Influences of exercise and endurance training on the oxygen dissociation curve of blood under in vivo and in vitro conditions

Abstract

In experiments with graded exercise of 15 men (6 untrained, 3 semitrained, 6 endurance-trained) the trained subjects showed a massive shift to the right of the in vivo O2 dissociation curve (ODC) of femoral venous blood. At a saturation of 20 to 25% (18 mkp/sec) Po2 was about 9 mm Hg higher for the trained than for the untrained group. The following factors play a role: 1. The 2,3-diphosphoglycerate [2,3-DPG] concentration was increased by 15 to 20% in the trained group which explains about 2 mm Hg of the diffenence in Po2-2. Exercise acidosis in the femoral venous blood depends to a large extent on CO2 in the trained, but on lactic acid in the untrained group. At low saturations the CO2-Bohr effect increases sharply thus having a greater importance in the trained subjects. This factor can explain about 2 mm Hg of the difference. However, influence of chloride and 2,3-DPG on the Bohr effect must be taken into consideration. 3. Since the large ODC-shift to the right of the trained group was not reproducible under in vitro conditions, it is suggested that a rapidly decaying unknown substance accounts for the remaining difference in Po2.