Relationship between Maximal Pulmonary Ventilation and Arterialized Venous Blood Potassium and Dopamine Concentrations Obtained at Exhaustion in Man.

This study was performed to test the hypothesis that potassium concentration in arterialized blood may be closely related to maximal pulmonary ventilation (V.Emax) obtained at exhaustion during maximal exercise in man. Eleven healthy men performed bicycle exercise with incremental loading at 60 rpm until exhaustion. Pulmonary ventilation (V.E), oxygen uptake (V.O2), and heart rate (HR) were determined continuously throughout the experiment. Arterialized venous blood samples were collected to measure potassium ([K+]), lactate ([La]), hydrogen ion (pH), catecholamine ([CA]), and dopamine ([DA]) concentrations. A significant correlation (r = 0.98-0.88) between V.E and [K+], [La], and pH during exercise was observed in all subjects. Furthermore, a close relationship was found in this study between dopamine concentration measured at exhaustion ([DA]0) and maximal pulmonary ventilation per kilogram of body weight (V.Emax/W) (r = -0.668, p < 0.05) or maximum oxygen uptake per kilogram of body weight (VO2MAX/W) (r = 0.720, p < 0.05). However, no significant correlation was found between V. Emax/W and [K+]0 (r = 0.202, NS), [La]0 (r = -0.096, NS), and pH0 (r = 0.344, NS). These results suggest that dopamine may play a more important role in the determination of maximal pulmonary ventilation during exercise in man than K+ or pH.