AUTHOR=Rocha Joel , Gildea Norita , O’Shea Donal , Green Simon , Egaña Mikel TITLE=Priming exercise accelerates oxygen uptake kinetics during high-intensity cycle exercise in middle-aged individuals with type 2 diabetes JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology VOLUME=13 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2022.1006993 DOI=10.3389/fphys.2022.1006993 ISSN=1664-042X ABSTRACT=

Background: The primary phase time constant of pulmonary oxygen uptake kinetics (V·O2τp) during submaximal efforts is longer in middle-aged people with type 2 diabetes (T2D), partly due to limitations in oxygen supply to active muscles. This study examined if a high-intensity “priming” exercise (PE) would speed V·O2τp during a subsequent high-intensity cycling exercise in T2D due to enhanced oxygen delivery.

Methods: Eleven (4 women) middle-aged individuals with type 2 diabetes and 11 (4 women) non-diabetic controls completed four separate cycling bouts each starting at an ‘unloaded’ baseline of 10 W and transitioning to a high-intensity constant-load. Two of the four cycling bouts were preceded by priming exercise. The dynamics of pulmonary V·O2 and muscle deoxygenation (i.e. deoxygenated haemoglobin and myoglobin concentration [HHb + Mb]), were calculated from breath-by-breath and near-infrared spectroscopy data at the vastus lateralis, respectively.

Results: At baseline V·O2τp, was slower (p < 0.001) in the type 2 diabetes group (48 ± 6 s) compared to the control group (34 ± 2 s) but priming exercise significantly reduced V·O2τp (p < 0.001) in type 2 diabetes (32 ± 6 s) so that post priming exercise it was not different compared with controls (34 ± 3 s). Priming exercise reduced the amplitude of the V·O2 slow component (As) in both groups (type 2 diabetes: 0.26 ± 0.11 to 0.16 ± 0.07 L/min; control: 0.33 ± 0.13 to 0.25 ± 0.14 L/min, p < 0.001), while [HHb + Mb] kinetics remained unchanged.

Conclusion: These results suggest that in middle-aged men and women with T2D, PE speeds V·O2τp likely by a better matching of O2 delivery to utilisation and reduces the V·O2 As during a subsequent high-intensity exercise.