Chemically and electrically induced sweating and flare reaction.
Both thin afferent (nociceptors) and efferent (sympathetic sudomotor) nerve fibers can be activated electrically and chemically, resulting in neurogenic erythema and sweating. These reactions have been used before to assess the impairment of sympathetic and nociceptor fibers in humans. In this study, electrically induced sweating and erythema were assessed simultaneously in the foot dorsum and thigh, and were compared to chemically induced activation. Reproducible intensity-response relations (stimulation intensities 0-30 mA, 1 Hz) were obtained from 32 subjects. The steepest increase of the sweat response was induced at lower intensities as compared to that of the erythema (18.3 mA vs. 25.7 mA, p<0.01) and reached a plateau for intensities above 25 mA, suggesting lower electrical thresholds for sudomotor fibers. Maximum flare areas induced electrically with 30 mA were smaller than those evoked chemically (flare size: 4.5 cm2 vs. 10.6 cm2). In contrast, the electrically evoked sweating rate was higher than that evoked chemically (acetylcholine, or ACh; sweating rate 0.31 vs. 0.21 microl/cm2/min, p<0.01), which might be attributed to an increased effectiveness of synchronized discharge in sympathetic fibers upon electrical stimulation.
Department of Neurology, Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen, Germany.
Barbara
B
Namer
Andreas
A
Bickel
Heidi
H
Krämer
Frank
F
Birklein
Martin
M
Schmelz
D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004890:Erythema / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012018:Reflex / Q000187:drug effects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D012867:Skin / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D013268:Stimulation, Chemical; D013546:Sweating / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D013848:Thigh / Q000502:physiology
D000109:Acetylcholine