ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 1998 March;38(1):39-46

Copyright © 1998 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Blood lactate concentrations during exercise: effect of sampling site and exercise mode

Dassonville J. ¹, Beillot J. ¹, Lessard Y. ², Jan J. ¹, André A. M. ¹, Le Pourcelet C. ¹, Rochcongar P. ¹, Carré F. ¹

¹ Unité de Biologie et de Médecine du Sport, Pr Le Bars, Hôpital Pontchaillou, Rennes, France; ² Laboratoire des Explorations Fonctionnelles

Background. The pur­pose of the ­study was to com­pare ­blood lac­tate con­cen­tra­tions deter­mined in ­blood sam­pled ­from ­three ­sites (fin­ger cap­il­lary, ear-­lobe cap­il­lary, and fore­arm ­vein) dur­ing exer­cise on ­three dif­fer­ent ergom­e­ters (a ­cycle ergom­e­ter, a tread­mill and an arm-­crank ergom­e­ter).
Methods. A ­total of 312 ­well-­trained sub­iects per­formed ­either a six-min­ute ­steady-­state exer­cise (n=219) or an incre­men­tal exer­cise ­test ­until exhaus­tion (n=93). Blood was sam­pled ­from two ­sites ­after ­each exer­cise ­test and at the end of ­each ­stage of the incre­men­tal pro­to­col, 852 ­pairs of ­blood sam­ples ­were ana­lysed.
Results. Results ­showed ­that, ­when exer­cise was per­formed on a ­cycle ergom­e­ter or a tread­mill, no sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­enc­es ­between ­venous and ear cap­il­lary sam­ples ­were ­observed where­as fin­ger cap­il­lary val­ues ­were high­er. On an arm-­crank ergom­e­ter, ­venous and fin­ger cap­il­lary lac­tate con­cen­tra­tions ­were usu­al­ly high­er ­than ear cap­il­lary val­ues ­with ­some dis­crep­an­cies depend­ing on the ­times of sam­pling.
Conclusions. We con­clude ­that lac­tate val­ues may dif­fer depend­ing on the sam­pling ­site and the ­type of exer­cise ­mode. An ear cap­il­lary sample may be pre­ferred ­because it is ­less affect­ed by lac­tate ­release in the ­arms and easi­er to ­obtain.