Myths and methodologies: Reliability of forearm cutaneous vasodilatation measured using laser‐Doppler flowmetry during whole‐body passive heating.

Autor: Gemae, Mohamed R., Akerman, Ashley P., McGarr, Gregory W., Meade, Robert D., Notley, Sean R., Schmidt, Madison D., Rutherford, Maura M., Kenny, Glen P.
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Zdroj: Experimental Physiology; Mar2021, Vol. 106 Issue 3, p634-652, 19p
Abstrakt: Laser‐Doppler flowmetry (LDF) is commonly used to assess cutaneous vasodilatation responses, but its reliability (i.e. consistency) during whole‐body passive heating is unknown. We therefore assessed the reliability of LDF‐derived indices of cutaneous vasodilatation during incremental whole‐body heating. Fourteen young men (age: 24 (SD 5) years) completed three identical trials, each separated by 1 week. During each trial, a water‐perfused suit was used to raise and clamp oesophageal temperature at 0.6°C (low‐heat strain; LHS) and 1.2°C (moderate‐heat strain; MHS) above baseline. LDF‐derived skin blood flow (SkBF) was measured at three dorsal mid‐forearm sites, with local skin temperature clamped at 34°C. Data were expressed as absolute cutaneous vascular conductance (CVCabs; SkBF/mean arterial pressure) and normalised to maximal conductance (%CVCmax) achieved via simultaneous local skin heating to 44°C and increasing oesophageal temperature to 1.8°C above baseline. Between‐day reliability was characterised as measurement consistency across trials, while within‐day reliability was characterised as measurement consistency across adjacent skin sites during each trial. Between‐ and within‐day absolute reliability (coefficient of variation) generally improved with increasing heat strain, changing from poor (>25%) at baseline, poor‐to‐moderate (15–34%) at LHS, and moderate (10–25%) at MHS. Generally, these estimates were more consistent when expressed as %CVCmax. Conversely, relative reliability was mostly acceptable (intraclass correlation coefficient ≥0.70) during LHS and when data were expressed as CVCabs. These findings indicate that the consistency of LDF‐derived CVC estimates during heat stress depends on the level of heat strain and method of data expression, which should be considered when designing and interpreting experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Databáze: Complementary Index
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