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Impaired sweating in multiple sclerosis leads to increased reliance on skin blood flow for heat dissipation
Author(s) -
Davis Scott L.,
Korkmas Melissa A.,
Crandall Craig G.,
Frohman Elliot M.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.991.25
Subject(s) - sudomotor , sweat , medicine , thermoregulation , vasodilation , forearm , multiple sclerosis , endocrinology , anesthesia , cardiology , surgery , immunology
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system that can disrupt autonomic function, leading to impaired thermoregulatory function. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that control of sweating and skin blood flow (SkBF) is impaired in MS during whole‐body heating (WBH). Sweat rate (SR) and SkBF were assessed in dorsal forearm skin in females diagnosed with MS (n=4, age=39±4 yrs) and matched healthy controls (n=4; age=36±6 yrs) during normothermia (NT) and WBH (increased internal temperature ~1.0 °C). Cutaneous vascular conductance (%CVC max ) was calculated from the ratio of SkBF to mean arterial pressure and normalized to maximal responses obtained by local heating (42 °C for 30 min) following WBH. Sweating (ΔSR from NT) was impaired in MS patients (0.53±0.34 mg/cm 2 /min) compared to controls (0.99±0.07 mg/cm 2 /min; P=0.04). Cutaneous vasodilation (Δ%CVC max from NT) was higher in the MS group (62.6±5.1%) compared to controls (41.6±6.3%; P=0.01). No group differences in cutaneous vasodilation were observed during local heating (P=0.92). Impaired sweating in MS may arise from impairments in neural control of sudomotor pathways or neural‐induced changes in eccrine sweat glands. Interestingly, larger increases in cutaneous vasodilation to WBH suggest neural control of SkBF is intact and may compensate for impairments in sweating in an attempt to adequately dissipate heat in MS patients. Supported by National MS Society Grant RG4043A1/1