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Influence of blood donation on the incidence of plateau at \( \dot{V}{\text{O}} \) 2max

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of reductions in blood volume and associated oxygen-carrying capacity on the incidence of plateau at \(\dot{V}{\text{O}}\) 2max.

Methods

Fifteen well-trained athletes (age 23.3 ± 4.5; mass 77.4 ± 13.1 kg, height 180.1 ± 6.0 cm) completed three incremental cycle tests to volitional exhaustion, of which the first was defined as familiarisation, with the remaining two trials forming the experimental conditions of pre- (UBL) and post-(BLE) blood donation (~450 cm3). The work rate for the incremental tests commenced at 100 W for 60 s followed by a ramp of 0.42 W s−1, with cadence being held constant at 80 rpm. Throughout all trials, \(\dot{V}{\text{O}}\) 2 was determined on a breath-by-breath basis using a pre-calibrated metabolic cart. The criteria for plateau determination was a ∆\(\dot{V}{\text{O}}\) 2 ≤ 50 ml min−1 over the final two consecutive 30 s sampling periods.

Results

Despite a significant (P = 0.0028) 9.4 % reduction in haemoglobin concentration and 10.8 % (P = 0.016) reduction in erythrocyte count between UBL and BLE, there was no change in plateau incidence. However, significant differences were observed for both \(\dot{V}{\text{O}}\) 2max (P = 0.0059) 51.3 ± 7.6 (UBL) 48.4 ± 7.9 ml kg−1 min−1 (BLE) and gas exchange threshold arrival time 383.4 ± 85.2 s (UBL) 349.2 ± 71.4 s (BLE) (P = 0.0028).

Conclusion

These data suggest that plateau at \(\dot{V}{\text{O}}\) 2max is unaffected by O2 availability lending support to the notion of the plateau being dependent on the anaerobic capacity and the classically orientated concept of \(\dot{V}{\text{O}}\) 2max.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Group, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK

    Dan Gordon, Oliver Caddy, Viviane Merzbach, Don Keiller & James Baker

  2. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Madeleine Wood, Andrew Porter, Vignesh Vetrivel & Richard Barnes

  3. Laboratory for Vascular Investigations, University Hospital, Angers, France

    Marie Gernigon

Authors
  1. Dan Gordon
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  2. Madeleine Wood
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  3. Andrew Porter
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  4. Vignesh Vetrivel
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  5. Marie Gernigon
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  6. Oliver Caddy
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  7. Viviane Merzbach
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  8. Don Keiller
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  9. James Baker
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  10. Richard Barnes
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Correspondence to Dan Gordon.

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Communicated by Carsten Lundby.

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Gordon, D., Wood, M., Porter, A. et al. Influence of blood donation on the incidence of plateau at \( \dot{V}{\text{O}} \) 2max . Eur J Appl Physiol 114, 21–27 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-013-2743-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-013-2743-3

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