The purpose of the present study was to obtain the immediate C02 storage capacity at the onset of exercise. The C02 stores at the onset of the exercise were calculated from the difference between the respiratory gas exchange ratio (R) and the metabolic gas exchange ratio (RQ; R obtained at 5.5 min of exercise). The C02 stores per body weight (C02 stores/w) were linearly related to the C02 pressure (P W02) determined by the C02 rebreathing method (r = 0.713, p <0.001), the slope being 0.330 ml/(mmHg . kg). The C02 stores were then corrected for change in 02 stores with exercise, that defined as total C02 stores. P'v~o2 was also corrected for the effect of lung-bag volume shrinkage and Haldane effect during C02 rebreathing, that defined as true PvC02. The total C02 stores/w were also related linearly to the true Pv~o2 (r = 0.725, p <0.001), the slope of the regression line defined as the immediate C02 storage capacity being 0.650 ml/(mmHg kg).Key words : respiratory gas exchange ratio, mixed venous C02 pressure, immediate C02 storage capacity, onset of exercise.At the steady state in light exercise, it is often assumed that metabolic C02 production is equal to the C02 output, but this assumption is invalid at the onset of exercise (YANG et al., 1984a;HUGHSON and INMAN, 1985). While metabolically produced C02 is partially exhaled from the airway, the rest is stored at the onset of exercise. The increase of body C02 storage results in the increase of mixed venous C02 pressure (CERRETELLI et al., 1966;YANO et al., 1984a). In the heavy exercise, lactate is produced and causes the excessive C02 elimination (ISSEKUTZ and RODAHL, 1961; YANG et al., 1984a), thus C02 stores are diminished. As the increases in lactate and mixed venous C02 pressure were observed in heavy exercise (YANG et al., 1984a;HUGHSON and INMAN, 1985), both effects on C02 stores should be taken into consideration. CLODS and CAMPBELL (1969) proposed a quantitative approach to distinguish the effects of lactate and mixed venous C02 pressure on C02 stores. In their model,