Spontaneous skin temperature oscillations in normal human subjects

Abstract

A noninvasive method based on high-resolution measurements and bandpass filtering of spontaneous skin temperature oscillations (approximately 4.0 x 10(-2) degrees C) in the low-frequency range (0.01-0.04 Hz) was investigated in normal human subjects. We hypothesized that the oscillations (temperature variability) originate from vasomotor activity of small arteries and arterioles in subcutaneous tissues. To test this hypothesis, continuous blood pressure waveforms were obtained with the use of an external piezoelectric sensor. The peak-to-peak envelope of the pressure signal (pressure variability) was used as an indicator of vasomotor activity. The variabilities of temperature and pressure were compared using cross-spectral and coherence analysis. The correlation between the peak frequency of the signals was 0.92, and the coherence was greater than 0.9. The signals demonstrated similar changes in spectral energy and peak frequency in response to mental stress. Reproducibility of the temperature variability in individual subjects was verified by repeating measurements 1-12 wk later. The differences in peak frequency were small (0.0155 +/- 0.001 Hz), and in each subject the signals exhibited similar patterns in response to stress. Correlation between spectral characteristics of the signals suggests that temperature variability can be attributed to changes in blood flow resulting from oscillations in vasomotor smooth muscle tone.