THE EFFECT OF LOCAL TEMPERATURE ON INDIRECT VASODILATATION IN THE FEET

Abstract

Lewis and Pickering reported in 1933 that warming occurred later in cool than in warm fingers in response to body heating. Factors which may be responsible were investigated. Measurement of rate of blood flow in the feet by venous occlusion plethysmography during body heating showed that vasodilatation in the feet occurred at the same time in a cool foot (18 to 23 °C) as in a warm (30 to 35 °C) but that warming of the cooler foot might be delayed for some time until the increase in flow was 0.5 ml/100 ml of foot per minute or more. In control experiments, with both feet in cool water or both in warm, the increase in blood flow during body heating started at the same time in both feet. Warming also began at the same time in both feet, but in the cool control experiments, warming often began later than did increase in flow. It is suggested that precooling of arterial blood may account for the delay in warming when the extremity is initially cool and the increase in blood flow is at first small during indirect vasodilatation.