title: Reproducibility of a local cooling test to assess microvascular function in human skin.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Center, Inserm CIC03, Grenoble University Hospital, France. MRoustit@chu-grenoble.fr
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roustit
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Maggi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Isnard
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hellmann
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bakken
authors.forename: J-L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Cracowski
mesh_terms: 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