The cross-sectional relationships among hyperthermia-induced hyperventilation, peak oxygen consumption, and the cutaneous vasodilatory response during exercise

To test the hypothesis that the hyperthermia-induced ventilatory response relates to aerobic power and/or the cutaneous vasodilatory response during exercise, we asked 18 subjects to perform 3 kinds of exercise: an incremental exercise to determine peak oxygen consumption (\( {\dot{\hbox{V}}} \)O_2peak), a steady state exercise at 50% of \( {\dot{\hbox{V}}} \)O_2peak to determine the ventilatory response to increasing body temperature, and a steady state exercise at 60% of \( {\dot{\hbox{V}}} \)O_2peak to determine the cutaneous vasodilatory response to increasing body temperature. The ventilatory and cutaneous vasodilatory responses were evaluated by plotting the increase in minute ventilation or in forearm vascular conductance against the increase in oesophageal temperature. Regression analysis revealed that: (1) there was a negative relationship between the hyperthermic ventilatory response and cutaneous vasodilatory response, (2) there was a negative relationship between the hyperthermic ventilatory response and \( {\dot{\hbox{V}}} \)O_2peak, and (3) there was a positive relationship between the cutaneous vasodilatory response and \( {\dot{\hbox{V}}} \)O_2peak. These results support our hypothesis and suggest that exercise training suppresses the hyperthermic ventilatory response and improves the thermoregulatory response.