title: Muscle mitochondrial capacity exceeds maximal oxygen delivery in humans.
abstract: Across a wide range of species and body mass a close matching exists between maximal conductive oxygen delivery and mitochondrial respiratory rate. In this study we investigated in humans how closely in-vivo maximal oxygen consumption (VO(2) max) is matched to state 3 muscle mitochondrial respiration. High resolution respirometry was used to quantify mitochondrial respiration from the biopsies of arm and leg muscles while in-vivo arm and leg VO(2) were determined by the Fick method during leg cycling and arm cranking. We hypothesized that muscle mitochondrial respiratory rate exceeds that of systemic oxygen delivery. The state 3 mitochondrial respiration of the deltoid muscle (4.3±0.4 mmol o(2)kg(-1) min(-1)) was similar to the in-vivo VO(2) during maximal arm cranking (4.7±0.5 mmol O(2) kg(-1) min(-1)) with 6 kg muscle. In contrast, the mitochondrial state 3 of the quadriceps was 6.9±0.5 mmol O(2) kg(-1) min(-1), exceeding the in-vivo leg VO(2) max (5.0±0.2 mmol O(2) kg(-1) min(-1)) during leg cycling with 20 kg muscle (P<0.05). Thus, when half or more of the body muscle mass is engaged during exercise, muscle mitochondrial respiratory capacity surpasses in-vivo VO(2) max. The findings reveal an excess capacity of muscle mitochondrial respiratory rate over O(2) delivery by the circulation in the cascade defining maximal oxidative rate in humans.
authors.affiliation: The Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark. boushel@sund.ku.dk
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Boushel
authors.forename: Erich
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gnaiger
authors.forename: Jose A L
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Calbet
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Alonso
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wright-Paradis
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sondergaard
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ara
authors.forename: Jørn W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Helge
authors.forename: Bengt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Saltin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008931:Mitochondria, Muscle / Q000378:metabolism*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen