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Supraspinal fatigue after normoxic and hypoxic exercise in humans
Author(s) -
Goodall Stuart,
GonzálezAlonso José,
Ali Leena,
Ross Emma Z.,
Romer Lee M.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1113/jphysiol.2012.228890
Subject(s) - oxygenation , hypoxia (environmental) , medicine , anesthesia , middle cerebral artery , transcranial doppler , transcranial magnetic stimulation , cerebral blood flow , cardiology , femoral nerve , motor unit recruitment , muscle fatigue , stimulation , electromyography , physical medicine and rehabilitation , ischemia , oxygen , chemistry , organic chemistry
Key points• Processes leading to fatigue occur within the exercising muscle (peripheral fatigue) and the nervous system (central fatigue). • We asked whether central processes of fatigue would be increased after strenuous exercise in environments where oxygen availability is reduced (hypoxia) compared to the same absolute exercise intensity at sea‐level. • Our main finding was that the contribution of central processes to fatigue was increased after exercise in hypoxia (equivalent to ∼3800 m above sea‐level). • The greater amount of central fatigue in hypoxia was due to suboptimal neural output from the brain and was associated with reductions in oxygen availability. • The findings provide a plausible mechanism for why exercise performance is impaired at high altitude, and might help our understanding of exercise limitation in patients with reduced oxygen delivery to the brain.