Factors affecting accumulation of lactate in red blood cells.

This research explores the factors impacting the accumulation of lactate in the red blood cells of horses, mainly focusing on the influence of pH, time, and temperature, and how these factors interact with the operations of lactate transporters.

Research Goal and Method

• The study aimed to probe the effects of pH, temperature, and time on lactate distribution within red blood cells (RBCs), and compare the activity of lactate transporters in vitro (in the lab) to the accumulation of lactate in vivo (in the body).
• Hence, the researchers collected venous blood samples from horses before and after they’d completed trotting races.

Key Findings of the Research

• It was found that the post-exercise accumulation of lactate in RBCs was determined by the kinetic activity of lactate transporters.
• The results also revealed that the parameters of pH, incubation time, and temperature can significantly influence both the activity of the lactate transporters and the build-up of lactate in RBCs. This emphasizes the importance of standardizing conditions when measuring lactate.

Relevance to Practice

• In real-world applications, these findings support the notion that using whole blood lactate concentrations, rather than simply the plasma fraction, as a measure is better for estimating lactate build-up from exercising muscles into the blood.
• This is because the approach minimizes the variances that could come from factors such as blood pH, temperature, and time to centrifugation of the sample, along with interindividual variation in lactate transport into RBCs.