Blood lactate threshold differences between arterialized and venous blood

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between lactate thresholds determined from venous and arterialized blood. Seven endurance-trained college males performed an incremental bicycle ergometer exercise test until exhaustion. At the end of each 3 min stage, blood was sampled simultaneously from a hyperemized ear-lobe and an antecubital vein for the measurement of blood lactate (La-). Two-minute rest intervals separated each stage. Arterialized blood La-concentrations ([La-]) were significantly higher than venous blood at 350 W (14.5 and 9.7 mmol.l-1), maximal exercise (15.5 and 11.39 mmol.l-1), and throughout recovery. Arterialized [La-] was significantly higher than venous blood at the onset of blood La- accumulation (OBLA) (4.0 and 2.8 +/- 0.1 mmol.l-1), the individual anaerobic threshold (IAT) (3.4 +/- 0.3 and 2.1 +/- 0.1 mmol.l-1), and the ventilatory threshold (VT) (4.7 +/- 0.9 and 3.2 +/- 0.6 mmol.l-1). No significant differences were found between either La-threshold for arterialized or venous blood. The oxygen consumption (VO2) at OBLA was significantly lower when determined from arterialized blood La (2.3 +/- 0.2 and 2.8 +/- 0.2 l.min-1). No significant differences existed between the LT, OBLA, and IAT threshold-VO2 determinations from arterialized blood; however, significant differences were found between IAT-OBLA (2.1 +/- 0.2 and 2.8 +/- 0.2 l.min-1) and LT (2.2 +/- 0.2 l.min-1)-OBLA from venous blood. These results indicate that differences between venous and arterialized blood [La-] need to be considered when comparing different anaerobic threshold determinations.