Absence of long-term modulation of ventilation by dead-space loading during moderate exercise in humans.

The stability of arterial PCO(2) (P(a)CO(2)) during moderate exercise in humans suggests a CO(2)-linked control that matches ventilation (V(E)) to pulmonary CO(2) clearance (VCO(2)). An alternative view is that V(E) is subject to long-term modulation (LTM) induced by "hyperpnoeic history". LTM has been reported with associative conditioning via dead-space (V(D)) loading in exercising goats (Martin and Mitchell 1993). Whether this prevails in humans is less clear, which may reflect differences in study design (e.g. subject familiarisation; V(D) load; whether or not V(E) is expressed relative to VCO(2); choice of P(a)CO(2) estimator). After familiarisation, nine healthy males performed moderate constant-load cycle-ergometry (20 W-80 W-20 W; <lactate threshold, theta;(L)): day 1, pre-conditioning, n=3; day 2, conditioning (V(D)=1.59 l, doubling V(E) at 20 W and 80 W), n=8 with 10 min rest between tests; and, after 1 h rest, post-conditioning, n=3. Gas exchange was determined breath-by-breath. Post-conditioning, neither the transient [phase 1, phase 2 (capital EF, Cyrillic1, capital EF, Cyrillic2)] nor steady-state V(E) exercise responses, nor their proportionality to VCO(2), differed from pre-conditioning. For post-conditioning trial 1, steady-state V(E) was 28.1 (4.7) l min(-1) versus 29.1 (3.8) l min(-1) pre-conditioning, and mean-alveolar PCO(2) (a validated P(a)CO(2) estimator) was 5.53 (0.48) kPa [41.5 (3.6) mmHg] versus 5.59 (0.49) kPa [41.9 (3.7) mmHg]; the capital EF, Cyrillic1 V(E) increment was 4.2 (2.9) l min(-1) versus 5.2 (1.9) l min(-1); the capital EF, Cyrillic2 V(E) time-constant (tau) was 64.4 (24.1) s versus 64.1 (25.3) s; tauV(E)/tauVCO(2) was 1.12 (0.04) versus 1.10 (0.04); and the V(E)-VCO(2) slope was 21.7 (3.4) versus 21.2 (3.2). In conclusion, we could find no evidence to support ventilatory control during moderate exercise being influenced by hyperpnoeic history associated with dead-space loading in humans.