Abstract
The purpose of this study was to clarify dermatologically the favorable effects of hot spring bathing on the rough skin in Capybaras. Non-volcanic hot springs used in this study showed alkaline quality of water (pH 9.3), containing sodium and chloride ions. The normal skin in Capybaras was characterized by the presence of relatively thick epidermis with mild alkaline state (pH 8.26). The dorsal skin had melanin granules in the basal layer. Their rough skin affected in the Japanese cold winter was improved by daily bathing in an alkaline hot spring. The skin properties returned to the normal skin conditions (moisture, melanin and erythema values) observed in the summer. The facial expression mainly changes in the eyes was scored to evaluate comfortable status. The comfortable status during hot spring bathing significantly increased as compared with that observed before bathing (p < 0.01). The thermography revealed a heat retention effect of body temperature after hot spring bathing for 30 min. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that hot spring had significantly comfortable and dermatological effects on the basis of evaluation for the skin and body conditions in Capybaras.
Highlights
Hot spring bathing is widely used for the regulation of human physical conditions
The pH of Yuda hot spring was higher than the average pH of Japanese hot spring[11]
Analysis of the hot spring water showed that the total amount of dissolved components were less than 1000 mg/kg
Summary
Hot spring bathing is widely used for the regulation of human physical conditions. Hot spring bath is pleasant to take and bathing has very few adverse effects during a long-term treatment. In ancient Japanese hot spring villages, there are many traditions that various wild animals found highly efficacious hot springs in wound healing. These therapeutic effects of hot spring bathing on the skin have not been fully elucidated in human medicine. Capybaras prefer to soak in a hot spring in the cold winter. Because of their characteristics, we used these animals to evaluate beneficial effects of hot spring bathing on the rough skin. The purpose of this study was three-fold: first, to clarify the functional properties of hot spring water, second, to investigate the differences between the skin in the winter (rough skin) and in the summer (normal skin), and third, to demonstrate the comfortable and dermatological effects of consecutive hot spring bathing with the rough skin of Capybaras
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