Comparison of blood lactate concentration
between the Biosen C-Line and the Analox GM7
lactate analysers during incremental exercise

Marsh, CE; Dale, Z-L

Abstract

Analysis of blood lactate profiles can be used to prescribe
training. However, lactate concentration often varies
between different lactate analysers, with some analysers
measuring higher than others – often dependent on
whether the device measures lactate in plasma, whole
blood or haemolysed whole blood. This can consequently
impact on lactate threshold variables such as onset of
blood lactate accumulation (OBLA), the velocity at which
could be underestimated or over-estimated, with subsequent training intensities being set too high or low.
Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the
level of agreement between two bench-top devices including the Analox GM7 (uses non-haemolysed blood) and the
Biosen C-Line (uses haemolysed blood) to determine level
of agreement between devices for the measurement of
blood lactate concentration and how this impacts running
speed at OBLA. Following institutional ethics approval, 10
males and 2 females (mean ± SD: age 21.93 ± 12.30 years,
body mass 76.16 ± 8.87 kg, height 79.0 ± 11.08 cm) participated in the study. Each participant performed an incremental treadmill running test using 4-min stages with
speed increments of 0.5 km · h−1
. Duplicate capillary
blood samples were taken from the fingertip at rest and
following each exercise stage for the determination of
blood lactate concentration measured using the Biosen
C-Line and the Analox GM7; each sample was analysed
through each analyser twice. Blood lactate concentration
from the two analysers were plotted against running speed
for each participant to identify running speed at a fixed
blood lactate concentration of 4 mmol · L−1 (OBLA) commonly used in exercise prescription. Although results
found a strong linear relationship (Pearson’s correlation)
between the lactate concentration (R = 0.901) and speed
at OBLA for the two analysers (R = 0.991), a paired t-test
showed that the Analox produced significantly lower measures of lactate concentration (P < 0.0001) than the Biosen,
and that running speed at OBLA was significantly higher
for the Analox compared to the Biosen (mean ± SD: 12.13
1.89 vs. 11.78 1.83 km · h−1 respectively; P < 0.001). The η2
statistic for lactate concentration (0.29) and running speed
at OBLA (0.67) indicated a large effect size. In conclusion,
the results indicate that the Analox measures blood lactate
concentration lower than the Biosen, resulting in OBLA
occurring at higher running speeds for the Analox. This
has implications on exercise prescription around OBLA –
faster (and possibly over-estimated) running speeds would
be prescribed from exercise tests that use the Analox GM7
device compared to the Biosen C-line device. Furthermore,
the two devices cannot be used interchangeably – the
same device should be used for measuring blood lactate
in the same athlete.

Citation

lactate analysers during incremental exercise. Poster presented at British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) Conference 2016, East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham, UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Poster
• Conference Name: British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) Conference 2016
• Conference Location: East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham, UK
• End Date: Nov 30, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Nov 15, 2016
• Publication Date: Nov 30, 2016
• Deposit Date: Nov 27, 2020
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1260807
• Related Public URLs: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjsp20/current
• Additional Information: Access Information : This published poster abstract can be read in the published book of abstracts which can be accessed using the link above.; Event Type : Conference