Bowen TS, Cannon DT, Murgatroyd SR, Birch KM, Witte KK, Rossiter HB. The intramuscular contribution to the slow oxygen uptake kinetics during exercise in chronic heart failure is related to the severity of the condition. J Appl Physiol 112: 378 -387, 2012. First published October 27, 2011 doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00779.2011The mechanism for slow pulmonary O2 uptake (V O2) kinetics in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) is unclear but may be due to limitations in the intramuscular control of O2 utilization or O2 delivery. Recent evidence of a transient overshoot in microvascular deoxygenation supports the latter. Prior (or warm-up) exercise can increase O2 delivery in healthy individuals. We therefore aimed to determine whether prior exercise could increase muscle oxygenation and speed V O2 kinetics during exercise in CHF. Fifteen men with CHF (New York Heart Association I-III) due to left ventricular systolic dysfunction performed two 6-min moderate-intensity exercise transitions (bouts 1 and 2, separated by 6 min of rest) from rest to 90% of lactate threshold on a cycle ergometer. V O2 was measured using a turbine and a mass spectrometer, and muscle tissue oxygenation index (TOI) was determined by near-infrared spectroscopy. Prior exercise increased resting TOI by 5.3 Ϯ 2.4% (P ϭ 0.001), attenuated the deoxygenation overshoot (Ϫ3.9 Ϯ 3.6 vs. Ϫ2.0 Ϯ 1.4%, P ϭ 0.011), and speeded the V O2 time constant (V O2; 49 Ϯ 19 vs. 41 Ϯ 16 s, P ϭ 0.003). Resting TOI was correlated to V O2 before (R 2 ϭ 0.51, P ϭ 0.014) and after (R 2 ϭ 0.36, P ϭ 0.051) warm-up exercise. However, the mean response time of TOI was speeded between bouts in half of the patients (26 Ϯ 8 vs. 20 Ϯ 8 s) and slowed in the remainder (32 Ϯ 11 vs. 44 Ϯ 16 s), the latter group having worse New York Heart Association scores (P ϭ 0.042) and slower V O2 kinetics (P ϭ 0.001). These data indicate that prior moderate-intensity exercise improves muscle oxygenation and speeds V O2 kinetics in CHF. The most severely limited patients, however, appear to have an intramuscular pathology that limits V O2 kinetics during moderate exercise. muscle oxygenation; near-infrared spectroscopy; prior exercise CHRONIC HEART FAILURE (CHF) is a syndrome characterized by exercise intolerance due to breathlessness and fatigue in the presence of cardiac dysfunction. A treadmill or cycle-based symptom-limited peak exercise test, with pulmonary gas exchange measurement to determine peak O 2 uptake (V O 2peak ), is the most widely used measure of physiological limitation in CHF and provides objective information on aerobic capacity, symptomatology, and prognosis (35). However, activities of daily living rarely occur at or around V O 2peak . Therefore, the rate at which aerobic energy transfer adapts [O 2 uptake (V O 2 ) kinetics] to changing energy demands may provide an assessment that is more appropriate to daily exercise limitations in CHF than traditional measures (1, 52). Accordingly, initial evidence indicates that V O 2 kinetics are more strongly correlated to disease s...