Nordsborg NB, Calbet JA, Sander M, van Hall G, Juel C, Saltin B, Lundby C. Human muscle net K ϩ release during exercise is unaffected by elevated anaerobic metabolism, but reduced after prolonged acclimatization to 4,100 m. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 299: R306 -R313, 2010. First published April 21, 2010; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00062.2010.-It was investigated whether skeletal muscle K ϩ release is linked to the degree of anaerobic energy production. Six subjects performed an incremental bicycle exercise test in normoxic and hypoxic conditions prior to and after 2 and 8 wk of acclimatization to 4,100 m. The highest workload completed by all subjects in all trials was 260 W. With acute hypoxic exposure prior to acclimatization, venous plasma [K ϩ ] was lower (P Ͻ 0.05) in normoxia (4.9 Ϯ 0.1 mM) than hypoxia (5.2 Ϯ 0.2 mM) at 260 W, but similar at exhaustion, which occurred at 400 Ϯ 9 W and 307 Ϯ 7 W (P Ͻ 0.05), respectively. At the same absolute exercise intensity, leg net K ϩ release was unaffected by hypoxic exposure independent of acclimatization. After 8 wk of acclimatization, no difference existed in venous plasma [K ϩ ] between the normoxic and hypoxic trial, either at submaximal intensities or at exhaustion (360 Ϯ 14 W vs. 313 Ϯ 8 W; P Ͻ 0.05). At the same absolute exercise intensity, leg net K ϩ release was less (P Ͻ 0.001) than prior to acclimatization and reached negative values in both hypoxic and normoxic conditions after acclimatization. Moreover, the reduction in plasma volume during exercise relative to rest was less (P Ͻ 0.01) in normoxic than hypoxic conditions, irrespective of the degree of acclimatization (at 260 W prior to acclimatization: Ϫ4.9 Ϯ 0.8% in normoxia and Ϫ10.0 Ϯ 0.4% in hypoxia). It is concluded that leg net K ϩ release is unrelated to anaerobic energy production and that acclimatization reduces leg net K ϩ release during exercise.