ReviewThe Journal of physiology2008
Do multiple ionic interactions contribute to skeletal muscle fatigue?
Review in The Journal of physiology, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 146 citations in OpenAlex.
- No ergogeniceffect of β-alanine on repeated sprint ability: a systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- The Effects of a Novel Sodium Bicarbonate Ingestion System on Repeated 4 km Cycling Time Trial Performance in Well-Trained Male Cyclists.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Trial
- Beneficial effects of oral and topical sodium bicarbonate during a battery of team sport-specific exercise tests in recreationally trained male athletes.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2023Trial
- Changes in acid-base and ion balance during exercise in normoxia and normobaric hypoxia.European journal of applied physiology · 2017Trial
- Carbohydrate supplementation stabilises plasma sodium during training with high intensity.European journal of applied physiology · 2016Trial
- The effect of pH on fatigue during submaximal isometric contractions of the human calf muscle.European journal of applied physiology · 2015Trial
- Sodium bicarbonate intake improves high-intensity intermittent exercise performance in trained young men.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2015Trial
- Repeated sprint training in normobaric hypoxia.British journal of sports medicine · 2013Trial
- Common questions and misconceptions of sodium bicarbonate as an ergogenic aid: what does the science really show?Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2026Review
- Reliability of M-wave amplitude measurement from paired stimulations across different muscle groups before and after submaximal contraction to failure.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- The impact of intradialytic cycling on temporal changes in muscle sodium during hemodialysis.Clinical kidney journal · 2026Article
- The Role of Ion-Transporting Proteins on Crosstalk Between the Skeletal Muscle and Central Nervous Systems Elicited by Physical Exercise.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Serum sodium levels and geriatric syndromes: an overlooked association.European geriatric medicine · 2025Article
- Associations between skeletal muscle phenotype, positional role, and on-ice performance in elite male ice hockey players.Physiological reports · 2024Article
- Enhancing exercise performance and recovery through sodium bicarbonate supplementation: introducing the ingestion recovery framework.European journal of applied physiology · 2024Review
- Potassium effects on skeletal muscle contraction: are potassium-metabolic interactions required for fatigue?European journal of applied physiology · 2023Article
- Exercise and fatigue: integrating the role of KEuropean journal of applied physiology · 2023Review
- Calpain-3 Is Not a Sodium Dependent Protease and Simply Requires Calcium for Activation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- High-Intensity Exercise Training Alters the Effect ofAntioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Beyond Nernst: the effects of extracellular potassium on post-tetanic twitch potentiation in skeletal muscle.Pflugers Archiv : European journal of physiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During intense exercise or electrical stimulation of skeletal muscle the concentrations of several ions change simultaneously in interstitial, transverse tubular and intracellular compartments. Consequently the functional effects of multiple ionic changes need to be considered together. A diminished transsarcolemmal K(+) gradient per se can reduce maximal force in non-fatigued muscle suggesting that K(+) causes fatigue. However, this effect requires extremely large, although physiological, K(+) shifts. In contrast, moderate elevations of extracellular [K(+)] ([K(+)](o)) potentiate submaximal contractions, enhance local blood flow and influence afferent feedback to assist exercise performance. Changed transsarcolemmal Na(+), Ca(2+), Cl(-) and H(+) gradients are insufficient by themselves to cause much fatigue but each ion can interact with K(+) effects. Lowered Na(+), Ca(2+) and Cl(-) gradients further impair force by modulating the peak tetanic force-[K(+)](o) and peak tetanic force-resting membrane potential relationships. In contrast, raised [Ca(2+)](o), acidosis and reduced Cl(-) conductance during late fatigue provide resistance against K(+)-induced force depression. The detrimental effects of K(+) are exacerbated by metabolic changes such as lowered [ATP](i), depleted carbohydrate, and possibly reactive oxygen species. We hypothesize that during high-intensity exercise a rundown of the transsarcolemmal K(+) gradient is the dominant cellular process around which interactions with other ions and metabolites occur, thereby contributing to fatigue.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.