The effect of heating rate on the cutaneous vasomotion responses of forearm and leg skin in humans

Abstract

We examined skin blood flow (SkBF) and vasomotion in the forearm and leg using laser-Doppler fluxmetry (LDF) and spectral analysis to investigate endothelial, sympathetic, and myogenic activities in response to slow (0.1°C·10s−1) and fast (0.5°C·10s−1) local heating. At 33°C (thermoneutral) endothelial activity was higher in the legs than the forearms (P≤0.02). Fast-heating increased SkBF more than slow heating (P=0.037 forearm; P=0.002 leg). At onset of 42°C, endothelial (P=0.043 forearm; P=0.48 leg) activity increased in both regions during the fast-heating protocol. Following prolonged heating (42°C) endothelial activity was higher in both the forearm (P=0.002) and leg (P<0.001) following fast-heating. These results confirm regional differences in the response to local heating and suggest that the greater increase in SkBF in response to fast local heating is initially due to increased endothelial and sympathetic activity. Furthermore, with sustained local skin heating, greater vasodilatation was observed with fast heating compared to slow heating. These data indicate that this difference is due to greater endothelial activity following fast heating compared to slow heating, suggesting that the rate of skin heating may alter the mechanisms contributing to cutaneous vasodilatation.