Relation of local skin temperature and local sweating to cutaneous blood flow

¹ Department of Physiology, St. Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri

The relationship of local skin temperature and the onset of sweating to the local cutaneous blood flow was studied in the forearm and calf. The purpose of the investigation was to appraise the possible relation of sweat gland activity to the cutaneous vasodilatation which has been attributed to bradykinin or to intracranial temperatures. The onset of sweating was not marked by any apparently related increases in the rate of cutaneous blood flow. On the contrary, the onset of sweating was followed often by a stabilization or even a decrease in the level of cutaneous blood flow. The relations of the latter to the local skin temperature were complex, particularly in the forearm. There appeared to be additional unidentified influences, possibly vasomotor, operating on the skin vessels during transitional phases in the relation of skin temperature to blood flow.