ABSTRACT
This study was designed to evaluate the effect of exercise duration on the relation between sympathetic and adrenomedullary activities. Six trained subjects completed the following two exercise protocols ; six 2-min exercise sessions at 100% maximal O<SUB>2</SUB>uptake (VO<SUB>2</SUB>max) interspersed with 10-min recovery periods, and three 10-min exercise sessions at 80%VO<SUB>2</SUB>max interspersed with 10-min recovery periods. Plasma noradrenaline (NA), plasma adrenaline (A), NA/A ratio (NA/A), heart rate (HR), coefficient of variation of R-R intervals (CVRR) and blood lactate (La) were measured. With repetition of exercise sessions in both protocols, HR, NA and A gradually increased. CVRR rapidly decreased at the first exercise session and remained unchanged thereafter. NA/A increased by the first exercise session, but decreased by the following exercise sessions. NA in the second exercise session at 100%VO<SUB>2</SUB>max was significantly lower than that in the first. We conclude that, at the beginning of exercise, the increase of sympathetic activity is more dominant than that of adrenomedullary activity, whereas, with prolongation of exercise duration, the increase of adrenomedullary activity becomes more dominant than that of sympathetic activity,