Maximum rate of oxygen uptake by human skeletal muscle in relation to maximal activities of enzymes in the Krebs cycle

1. Ten subjects performed incremental exercise up to their maximum work rate with the knee extensors of one leg. Measurements of leg blood flow and femoral arteriovenous differences of oxygen were made in order to be able to calculate oxygen uptake of the leg. 2. The volume of the quadriceps muscle was determined from twenty-one to twenty-five computer tomography section images taken from the patella to the anterior inferior iliac spine of each subject. 3. The maximal activities of three enzymes in the Krebs cycle, citrate synthase, oxoglutarate dehydrogenase and succinate dehydrogenase, were measured in biopsy samples taken from the vastus lateralis muscle. 4. The average rate of oxygen uptake over the quadriceps muscle at maximal work, 353 ml min(-1) kg(-1), corresponded to a Krebs cycle rate of 4.6 mu mol min(-1) g(-1). This was similar to the maximal activity of oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (5.1 mu mol min(-1) g(-1)), whereas the activities of succinate dehydrogenase and citrate synthase averaged 7.2 and 48.0 mu mol min(-1) g(-1), respectively. 5. It is suggested that of these enzymes, only the maximum activity of oxoglutarate dehydrogenase can provide a quantitative measure of the capacity of oxidative metabolism, and it appears that the enzyme is fully activated during one-legged knee extension exercise at the maximal work rate.