Bioenergetic basis for the increased fatigability with ageing
Christopher W. Sundberg The Journal of Physiology 2019
Key points
The mechanisms for the age‐related increase in fatigability during dynamic exercise remain elusive.
We tested whether age‐related impairments in muscle oxidative capacity would result in a greater accumulation of fatigue causing metabolites, inorganic phosphate (Pi), hydrogen (H+) and diprotonated phosphate (H2PO4−), in the muscle of old compared to young adults during a dynamic knee extension exercise.
The age‐related increase in fatigability (reduction in mechanical power) of the knee extensors was closely associated with a greater accumulation of metabolites within the working muscle but could not be explained by age‐related differences in muscle oxidative capacity.
These data suggest that the increased fatigability in old adults during dynamic exercise is primarily determined by age‐related impairments in skeletal muscle bioenergetics that result in a greater accumulation of metabolites.
Abstract
The present study aimed to determine whether the increased fatigability in old adults during dynamic exercise is associated with age‐related differences in skeletal muscle bioenergetics. Phosphorus nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to quantify concentrations of high‐energy phosphates and pH in the knee extensors of seven young (22.7 ± 1.2 years; six women) and eight old adults (76.4 ± 6.0 years; seven women). Muscle oxidative capacity was measured from the phosphocreatine (PCr) recovery kinetics following a 24 s maximal voluntary isometric contraction. The fatiguing exercise consisted of 120 maximal velocity contractions (one contraction per 2 s) against a load equivalent to 20% of the maximal voluntary isometric contraction. The PCr recovery kinetics did not differ between young and old adults (0.023 ± 0.007 s−1 vs. 0.019 ± 0.004 s−1, respectively). Fatigability (reductions in mechanical power) of the knee extensors was ∼1.8‐fold greater with age and was accompanied by a greater decrease in pH (young = 6.73 ± 0.09, old = 6.61 ± 0.04) and increases in concentrations of inorganic phosphate, [Pi], (young = 22.7 ± 4.8 mm, old = 32.3 ± 3.6 mm) and diprotonated phosphate, [H2PO4−], (young = 11.7 ± 3.6 mm, old = 18.6 ± 2.1 mm) at the end of the exercise in old compared to young adults. The age‐related increase in power loss during the fatiguing exercise was strongly associated with intracellular pH (r = –0.837), [Pi] (r = 0.917) and [H2PO4−] (r = 0.930) at the end of the exercise.
These data suggest that the age‐related increase in fatigability during dynamic exercise has a bioenergetic basis and is explained by an increased accumulation of metabolites within the muscle.