Muscle Na-K-pump and fatigue responses to progressive exercise in normoxia and hypoxia

To investigate the effects of hypoxia and incremental exercise on muscle contractility, membrane excitability, and maximal Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity, 10 untrained volunteers (age = 20 +/- 0.37 yr and weight = 80.0 +/- 3.54 kg; +/- SE) performed progressive cycle exercise to fatigue on two occasions: while breathing normal room air (Norm; Fi(O(2)) = 0.21) and while breathing a normobaric hypoxic gas mixture (Hypox; Fi(O(2)) = 0.14). Muscle …