[Use of the LA 640 for a simple method of measuring the concentration of muscle lactate].

A simple technique was elaborated for the measurement of muscle lactate concentration. It was tested on samples of muscle vastus lateralis taken by the Bergström (1962) needle biopsy technique at the end of 20 min exercise bouts corresponding to 60-70% of Vo2 max. The biopsies were freshly frozen in liquid nitrogen, powdered and weighed in a cryostat at -20 degrees C. The extraction were made by saponine and the lactate measured in the saponine solution by an electrochemical-enzymatic method (LA 640). The results concern: the time of taking the biopsies and the freezing time (27 +/- 11 s and 34 +/- 9 s respectively); the accuracy of weighing (inducing a 1% uncertainty in the final result); a comparison of the saponine extraction with the perchloric acid extraction and a checking of the extraction capacity of the former; the accuracy of the whole measurement (the mean relative confidence limits are +/- 8-10%; the reproducibility of the technique through measurement of the variation coefficient (18%) calculated on measurements performed at a 15 days interval in 6 trained subjects. The discussion of the results and their comparison with those of the literature lead to the conclusion that the described method is suitable for muscle lactate measurements.