Diffusion of water vapor through human skin in hot environment and with application of atropine

¹ Departments of Meteorology and Climatology and of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

At room temperatures between 20° and 40°C, vapor transfer through skin of human forearm was tested with four small heated bottles containing air of humidities ranging from 2 to 100% relative humidity. Exposure times ranging from 30 to 120 minutes had no influence on results. Water loss or gain of skin were observed for the different bottles. At very high humidities, liquid water deposit on the skin was measured by weighing a blotter. Skin vapor loss decreases systematically when bottle moisture increases. This increase is enhanced at room temperatures above 24°C, where total loss into a dry bottle increases more than fivefold. This increase seems only partially caused by sweat and partially by a decrease of the skin diffusion resistance. Tourniquet and locally applied atropine did not affect vapor transfer in a cool room. In a hot room, the tourniquet lowered the vapor loss by only 20%, whereas atropine drastically curtailed vapor loss.

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