The Impact of Acetazolamide and Methazolamide on Exercise Performance in Normoxia and Hypoxia
Publication: High Altitude Medicine & Biology
Volume 24, Issue Number 1
Abstract
Doherty, Connor J., Jou-Chung Chang, Benjamin P. Thompson, Erik R. Swenson, Glen E. Foster, and Paolo B. Dominelli. The impact of acetazolamide and methazolamide on exercise performance in normoxia and hypoxia. High Alt Med Biol. 24:7–18, 2023.—Carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibitors are commonly prescribed for acute mountain sickness (AMS). In this review, we sought to examine how two CA inhibitors, acetazolamide (AZ) and methazolamide (MZ), affect exercise performance in normoxia and hypoxia. First, we briefly describe the role of CA inhibition in facilitating the increase in ventilation and arterial oxygenation in preventing and treating AMS. Next, we detail how AZ affects exercise performance in normoxia and hypoxia and this is followed by a discussion on MZ. We emphasize that the overarching focus of the review is how the two drugs potentially affect exercise performance, rather than their ability to prevent/treat AMS per se, their interrelationship will be discussed. Overall, we suggest that AZ hinders exercise performance in normoxia, but may be beneficial in hypoxia. Based upon head-to-head studies of AZ and MZ in humans on diaphragmatic and locomotor strength in normoxia, MZ may be a better CA inhibitor when exercise performance is crucial at high altitude.
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Published In
High Altitude Medicine & Biology
Volume 24 • Issue Number 1 • March 2023
Pages: 7 - 18
PubMed: 36802203
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Copyright 2023, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.
History
Published online: 17 March 2023
Published in print: March 2023
Published ahead of print: 20 February 2023
Accepted: 12 January 2023
Received: 28 October 2022
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