ABSTRACT
The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of aerobic interval training on muscle and brain oxygenation to incremental ramp exercise. Eleven physically active subjects performed a 6-week interval training period, proceeded and followed by an incremental ramp exercise to exhaustion (25 W min-1). Throughout the tests pulmonary gas exchange and muscle (Vastus Lateralis) and brain (prefrontal cortex) oxygenation [concentration of deoxygenated and oxygenated hemoglobin, HHb and O2Hb, and tissue oxygenation index (TOI)] were continuously recorded. Following the training intervention V . ⢠O 2 peak had increased with 7.8 ± 5.0% (P < 0.001). The slope of the decrease in muscle TOI had decreased (P = 0.017) 16.6 ± 6.4% and the amplitude of muscle HHb and totHb had increased (P < 0.001) 40.4 ± 15.8 and 125.3 ± 43.1%, respectively. The amplitude of brain O2Hb and totHb had increased (P < 0.05) 40.1 ± 18.7 and 26.8 ± 13.6%, respectively. The training intervention shifted breakpoints in muscle HHb, totHb and TOI, and brain O2Hb, HHb, totHb and TOI to a higher absolute work rate and V . ⢠O 2 (P < 0.05). The relative (in %) change in V . ⢠O 2 peak was significantly correlated to relative (in %) change slope of muscle TOI (r = 0.69, P = 0.011) and amplitude of muscle HHb (r = 0.72, P = 0.003) and totHb (r = 0.52, P = 0.021), but not to changes in brain oxygenation. These results indicate that interval training affects both muscle and brain oxygenation, coinciding with an increase in aerobic fitness (i.e., V . ⢠O 2 peak). The relation between the change in V . ⢠O 2 peak and muscle but not brain oxygenation suggests that brain oxygenation per se is not a primary factor limiting exercise tolerance during incremental exercise.