Reproducibility of a local cooling test to assess microvascular function in human skin.
OBJECTIVE
In the present study we aimed to assess the reproducibility of skin microvascular reactivity while fast cooling locally with a custom-designed laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF) probe.


METHODS
Twenty-two healthy volunteers underwent local 15 degrees C cooling on the forearm during 5 (protocol 1, n=12) or 30 min (protocol 2, n=10). Skin blood flow was concomitantly assessed using LDF. Measurements were repeated after 30 min (protocol 1) or 7 days (protocols 1 and 2). Data were expressed as cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC) and percentage of baseline (%BL). Within subject coefficients of variation (CV) and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated.


RESULTS
Immediate reproducibility of the 5-min cooling was very good, either expressed as CVC or %BL (CV were 8% and 18%; ICC were 0.85 and 0.78, respectively). However, the 30-min cooling was the most reproducible at 1 week, either as CVC or %BL (CV were 26% and 23%; ICC were 0.86 and 0.75, respectively). Local cooling was well tolerated by all volunteers.


CONCLUSIONS
We propose in the present work a reproducible 30-min LDF cooling test. Such a tool could be of great interest to assess microvascular reactivity to local cooling in diseases such as Raynaud's syndrome, and to further evaluate drugs for such diseases.
Roustit
M
M
Clinical Research Center, Inserm CIC03, Grenoble University Hospital, France. MRoustit@chu-grenoble.fr
Maggi
F
F
Isnard
S
S
Hellmann
M
M
Bakken
B
B
Cracowski
J-L
JL
D003080:Cold Temperature; D005542:Forearm; D006801:Humans; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry; D008833:Microcirculation; D015588:Observer Variation; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012867:Skin / Q000098:blood supply*; D013997:Time Factors