Blood Lactate and venous pH as indicators of anaerobic energy production in horses

TRIGO P; CRISTINA CASTEJON RIBER; FLORENCIA ACERBI; ANA MUÑOZ JUZADO; ADALGIZA SOUZA CARNEIRO DE REZENDE; JORGE PABLO BARRENA CHIANTELASSA; PILAR PERAL GARCIA

BELO HORIZONTE

Congreso; 52 Reunião Anual da Sociedade Brasileira de Zootecnia; 2015

The production of anaerobic energy depends on the amount of type II fibers and their glycolitic and bufferingcapacity. Despite its importance on athletic performance, assessment of anaerobic capacity in sporting horses is still achallenge. The aim of this work is the evaluation of plasma lactate (Lac) and blood pH as indicators of anaerobic energyproduction in the horse, compared with the currently most accurate technique for its determination. 8 cross breed horsesperformed a progressive treadmill exercise test until fatigue. After warming up, animals underwent an exercise protocolstarting at 5m/sec, increasing 1m/sec every 2 min. Oxygen Debt (OD) was measured by a horse mask spirogasometer(Cortex Byophysiks) and venous blood samples were obtained at rest, immediately after exercise (AE) and after 10 minof active recovery (REC), for Lac (spectrophotometry) and blood pH determination (ion-selective electrode). Resultswere analyzed using multiple Student's t test, and the linearity between the variables was determined by Pearsoncoefficient. Lac increased AE (15.1+/-3.8mmol/l) and REC (16.9+/-2.2mmol/l) and both had poor correlation with OD(AE 0.31 and REC 0.37). Venous blood pH decreased AE (7.19+/-0.07) and increased REC (7.49+/-0.8), and had lowcorrelation with OD (0.3AE and -0.17REC). The correlation between Lac and blood pH was 0.36AE and 0.46REC.Although there were positive correlations, this study failed to demonstrate accuracy of Lac or blood pH in theestimation of the anaerobic energy production in horses. Future studies should focus on the availability of non lacticanaerobic sources, Lac catabolism, or buffer capacity, in order to find a marker of anaerobic energy production.