Men exhibit faster skeletal muscle tissue desaturation than women before and after a fatiguing handgrip

• Published in: European journal of applied physiology 2021-12, Vol.121 (12), p.3473-3483
• Main Authors: Keller, Joshua L., Kennedy, Katie G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adipose tissue; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Fatigue; Female; Hand Strength - physiology; Human Physiology; Humans; Infrared spectroscopy; Male; Mitochondria; Muscle Fatigue - physiology; Muscle strength; Muscle, Skeletal - metabolism; Musculoskeletal system; Occlusion; Occupational Medicine/Industrial Medicine; Original; Original Article; Oxygen - metabolism; Oxygenation; Sex differences; Sex Factors; Skeletal muscle; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; Sports Medicine; Ultrasonography; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1439-6319; 1439-6327
• DOI: 10.1007/s00421-021-04810-5

Purpose The purpose was to test the hypothesis that sex and fatigue effect of the early phase of skeletal muscle tissue oxygenation (StO 2 , %) desaturation rate as well as that strength matched adults may exhibit similar responses. Methods Twenty-four adults visited the laboratory twice to quantify this early phase of desaturation during vascular occlusion tests (VOT) while in a rested state. The second visit included a sustained handgrip task at 25% of maximal muscular strength until task failure. At failure, a post-task VOT was initiated. Muscle desaturation was defined as StO 2 and collected by a near-infrared spectroscopy device. The muscle size and adipose thickness were determined via ultrasonography. Linear regression was used to quantify the rates of desaturation during the VOTs as well as during the fatiguing handgrip. Results There were sex differences in the rate of desaturation pre- and post-handgrip, such that independent of fatigue, the men ( p