ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Environmental, Aviation and Space Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1575764
Alternate Quantification Approaches for Cold-Induced Vasodilation in Human Glabrous Skin
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Medicine, Indiana University, Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
- 2New England Baptist Hospital (NEBH), Boston, United States
- 3College of Osteopathic Medicine, Marian University, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
- 4Novant Health Rehabilitation Hospital, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- 5Department of Physical Therapy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, United States
- 6Department of Physical Therapy, Indiana University, Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
- 7Department of Physiology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, OH, United States
- 8Department of Biomedical Sciences, Marian University, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
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Cold-induced vasodilation (CIVD) is a counterintuitive focal increase in glabrous skin blood flow during cold exposure with unclear local and neural mechanisms. We tested 12 (8 men, 4 women) healthy subjects' laser-Doppler flux (LDF; just proximal to the nailbed) and arterial blood pressure (ABP) on a beat-by-beat basis. The experimental hand was exposed to warm (10 min 35°C) and then cold (30 min 8°C) water immersion and the contralateral control hand experienced 22-23°C air throughout. We analyzed beat-by-beat oscillations in LDF and ABP via a fast-Fourier transform (FFT) and transfer function analysis (TFA) of LDF to ABP. LDF spectral power was greater in the control finger than immersed fingers in the normalized very low frequency (nVLF) range. There was an interaction in the normalized low frequency (nLF) range where cooling decreased power in immersion sites but increased power in the control site. VLF and LF TFA gains were lower during cooling for immersion but not control sites. Data confirm a significant effect of local vasoconstriction within sympathetic vasoconstriction as identified by changes in VLF and LF, respectively. Comparing CIVD bins (LDF criteria, n=6) to general cutaneous vasoconstriction bins with no CIVD (n=6) yielded increased nVLF (P=0.05) and decreased nLF (P=0.09) power with CIVD. Thus, the unique analysis of LDF and ABP using the FFT-TFA approach appears to be beneficial in providing insights into CIVD events with a periodic local release of vasoconstriction under varying sympathetic tone.
Keywords: Fast-Fourier transform, Transfer Function Analysis, laser Doppler flowmetry, sympathoexcitation, functional sympatholysis
Received: 12 Feb 2025; Accepted: 26 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Stout, Gerow, Clegg, Metzler-Wilson and Wilson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Thad E. Wilson, Department of Physiology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 45701, OH, United States
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