An integrated exercise response and muscle fatigue model for performance decrement estimates of workloads in oxygen-limiting environments.

The performance dynamic physiology model (DPM-PE) integrates a modified muscle fatigue model with an exercise physiology model that calculates the transport and delivery of oxygen to working muscles during exposures of oxygen-limiting environments. This mathematical model implements a number of physiologic processes (respiration, circulation, tissue metabolism, diffusion-limited gas transfer at the blood/gas lung interface, and ventilatory control with afferent feedback, central command and humoral chemoreceptor feedback) to replicate the three phases of ventilatory response to a variety of exertion patterns, predict the delivery and transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide from the lungs to tissues, and calculate the amount of aerobic and anaerobic work performed. The ventilatory patterns from passive leg movement, unloaded work, and stepped and ramping loaded work compare well against data. The model also compares well against steady-state ventilation, cardiac output, blood oxygen levels, oxygen consumption, and carbon dioxide generation against a range of exertion levels at sea level and at altitude, thus demonstrating the range of applicability of the exercise model. With the ability to understand and predict gas transport and delivery of oxygen to working muscle tissue for different workloads and environments, the correlation between blood oxygen measures and the recovery factor of the muscle fatigue model was explored. Endurance data sets in normoxia and hypoxia were best replicated using arterial oxygen saturation as the correlate with the recovery factor. This model provides a physiologically based method for predicting physical performance decrement due to oxygen-limiting environments.