Functional characteristics of thermoreception in the skin and brain in individuals with a cold constitution

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K01505
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Developmental mechanisms and the body works
• Research Institution: Yamaguchi Prefectural University
• Principal Investigator: SONE FUMIO (山崎文夫) 山口県立大学, 看護栄養学部, 准教授 (80269050)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): SONE Ryoko 山口大学, 教育学部, 教授 (50271078) ; HARIKAE Naomi 山口県立大学, 看護栄養学部, 教授 (10238206)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 冷え症 / 温度感覚 / 脳活動 / 皮膚温 / 皮膚血流量

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of the present study was to elucidate functional characteristics of thermoreception in the skin and brain in individuals with a cold constitution. The sensitivity to warm sensation and the increase in skin blood flow during local skin heating in the feet were lower in summer than in winter, suggesting that temperature reception and local skin vasodilator function at peripheral sites in limbs exhibits seasonal variation. Subjects with a cold constitution have an attenuated vasodilator response to local heating in the skin of the lower limb in summer. Compared with normal control subjects, individuals with a cold constitution showed an attenuated α-wave power at the parietal area in a similar level of body temperature were more sensitive to cold sensations during the skin cooling stimulation than normal control subjects, but were not different in oxygenation at prefrontal cortex during local skin cooling.

Free Research Field

運動生理学