Thermal responses in humans exposed to cold hyperbaric helium-oxygen

1980 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 1099-1106 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Piantadosi ◽  
E. D. Thalmann

The relationship of metabolic heat production to skin and core temperatures, cutaneous heat flow, and respiratory heat loss was measured in 10 male subjects cooled in hyperbaric helium at 20.7 ATA and 15 or 20 degrees C for 60-120 min. Under these conditions, metabolic heat production tended to compensate for the sum of convective and radiant heat losses from the skin but did not increase sufficiently to compensate for additional respiratory heat losses. There was a positive correlation between respiratory heat loss and fall in rectal temperature. Individual variability in ventilatory response to cold hyperbaric helium exposure as shown by a wide range of minute ventilation-to-oxygen consumption ratios (VE/VO2) was similar to that reported during cold water immersion. Subjects with high VE/VO2 had low mean physiological shell insulation values and lost more heat through the skin as well as through the respiratory tract than subjects with low VE/VO2.

1998 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 204-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Castellani ◽  
Andrew J. Young ◽  
Michael N. Sawka ◽  
Kent B. Pandolf

This study examined whether serial cold-water immersions over a 10-h period would lead to fatigue of shivering and vasoconstriction. Eight men were immersed (2 h) in 20°C water three times (0700, 1100, and 1500) in 1 day (Repeat). This trial was compared with single immersions (Control) conducted at the same times of day. Before Repeat exposures at 1100 and 1500, rewarming was employed to standardize initial rectal temperature. The following observations were made in the Repeat relative to the Control trial: 1) rectal temperature was lower and heat debt was higher ( P < 0.05) at 1100; 2) metabolic heat production was lower ( P < 0.05) at 1100 and 1500; 3) subjects perceived the Repeat trial as warmer at 1100. These data suggest that repeated cold exposures may impair the ability to maintain normal body temperature because of a blunting of metabolic heat production, perhaps reflecting a fatigue mechanism. An alternative explanation is that shivering habituation develops rapidly during serially repeated cold exposures.


1999 ◽  
Vol 202 (11) ◽  
pp. 1523-1533 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.P. Roberts ◽  
J.F. Harrison

Thermoregulation of the thorax allows honeybees (Apis mellifera) to maintain the flight muscle temperatures necessary to meet the power requirements for flight and to remain active outside the hive across a wide range of air temperatures (Ta). To determine the heat-exchange pathways through which flying honeybees achieve thermal stability, we measured body temperatures and rates of carbon dioxide production and water vapor loss between Ta values of 21 and 45 degrees C for honeybees flying in a respirometry chamber. Body temperatures were not significantly affected by continuous flight duration in the respirometer, indicating that flying bees were at thermal equilibrium. Thorax temperatures (Tth) during flight were relatively stable, with a slope of Tth on Ta of 0.39. Metabolic heat production, calculated from rates of carbon dioxide production, decreased linearly by 43 % as Ta rose from 21 to 45 degrees C. Evaporative heat loss increased nonlinearly by over sevenfold, with evaporation rising rapidly at Ta values above 33 degrees C. At Ta values above 43 degrees C, head temperature dropped below Ta by approximately 1–2 degrees C, indicating that substantial evaporation from the head was occurring at very high Ta values. The water flux of flying honeybees was positive at Ta values below 31 degrees C, but increasingly negative at higher Ta values. At all Ta values, flying honeybees experienced a net radiative heat loss. Since the honeybees were in thermal equilibrium, convective heat loss was calculated as the amount of heat necessary to balance metabolic heat gain against evaporative and radiative heat loss. Convective heat loss decreased strongly as Ta rose because of the decrease in the elevation of body temperature above Ta rather than the variation in the convection coefficient. In conclusion, variation in metabolic heat production is the dominant mechanism of maintaining thermal stability during flight between Ta values of 21 and 33 degrees C, but variations in metabolic heat production and evaporative heat loss are equally important to the prevention of overheating during flight at Ta values between 33 and 45 degrees C.


1988 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 1916-1922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. H. Park ◽  
J. Iwamoto ◽  
F. Tajima ◽  
K. Miki ◽  
Y. S. Park ◽  
...  

The present work was undertaken to determine the critical water temperature (Tcw), defined as the lowest water temperature a subject can tolerate at rest for 3 h without shivering, of wet-suited subjects during water immersion at different ambient pressures. Nine healthy males wearing neoprene wet suits (5 mm thick) were subjected to immersion to the neck in water at 1, 2, and 2.5 ATA while resting for 3 h. Continuous measurements of esophageal (T(es)) and skin (Tsk) temperatures and heat loss from the skin (Htissue) and wet suits (Hsuit) were recorded. Insulation of the tissue (Itissue), wet suits (Isuit), and overall total (Itotal) were calculated from the temperature gradient and the heat loss. The Tcw increased curvilinearly as the pressure increased, whereas the metabolic heat production during rest and immersion was identical over the range of pressure tested. During the 3rd h of immersion, Tes was identical under all atmospheric pressures; however, Tsk was significantly higher (P less than 0.05) at 2 and 2.5 ATA compared with 1 ATA. A 42 (P less than 0.001) and 50% (P less than 0.001), reduction in Isuit from the 1 ATA value was detected at 2 and 2.5 ATA, respectively. However, overall mean Itissue was maximal and independent of the pressure during immersion at Tcw. The Itotal was also significantly smaller in 2 and 2.5 ATA compared with 1 ATA. The Itissue provided most insulation in the extremities, such as the hand and foot, and the contribution of Isuit in these body parts was relatively small. On the other hand, Itissue of the trunk areas, such as the chest, back, and thigh, was not high compared with the extremities, and Isuit played a major role in the protection of heat drain from these body parts.


2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 843-843
Author(s):  
Daniel Gagnon

The current thesis examined whether sex differences in local and whole-body heat loss are evident after accounting for confounding differences in physical characteristics and rate of metabolic heat production. Three experimental studies were performed: the first examined whole-body heat loss in males and females matched for body mass and surface area during exercise at a fixed rate of metabolic heat production; the second examined local and whole-body heat loss responses between sexes during exercise at increasing requirements for heat loss; the third examined sex-differences in local sweating and cutaneous vasodilation to given doses of pharmacological agonists, as well as during passive heating. The first study demonstrated that females exhibit a lower whole-body sudomotor thermosensitivity (553 ± 77 vs. 795 ± 85 W·°C−1, p = 0.05) during exercise performed at a fixed rate of metabolic heat production. The second study showed that whole-body sudomotor thermosensitivity is similar between sexes at a requirement for heat loss of 250 W·m−2 (496 ± 139 vs. 483 ± 185 W·m−2·°C−1, p = 0.91) and 300 W·m−2 (283 ± 70 vs. 211 ± 66 W·m−2·°C−1, p = 0.17), only becoming greater in males at a requirement for heat loss of 350 W·m−2 (197 ± 61 vs. 82 ± 27 W·m−2·°C−1, p = 0.007). In the third study, a lower sweat rate to the highest concentration of acetylcholine (0.27 ± 0.08 vs. 0.48 ± 0.13 mg·min−1·cm−2, p = 0.02) and methacholine (0.41 ± 0.09 vs. 0.57 ± 0.11 mg·min−1·cm−2, p = 0.04) employed was evidenced in females, with no differences in cholinergic sensitivity. Taken together, the results of the current thesis show that sex itself can modulate sudomotor activity, specifically the thermosensitivity of the response, during both exercise and passive heat stress. Furthermore, the results of the third study point towards a peripheral modulation of the sweat gland as a mechanism responsible for the lower sudomotor thermosensitivity in females.


1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (12) ◽  
pp. 1401-1406 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. T. Lin ◽  
Andi Chandra ◽  
T. C. Fung

The effects of both systemic and central administration of phentolamine on the thermoregulatory functions of conscious rats to various ambient temperatures were assessed. Injection of phentolamine intraperitoneally or into a lateral cerebral ventricle both produced a dose-dependent fall in rectal temperature at room temperature and below it. At a cold environmental temperature (8 °C) the hypothermia in response to phentolamine was due to a decrease in metabolic heat production, but at room temperature (22 °C) the hypothermia was due to cutaneous vasodilatation (as indicated by an increase in foot and tail skin temperatures) and decreased metabolic heat production. There were no changes in respiratory evaporative heat loss. However, in the hot environment (30 °C), phentolamine administration produced no changes in rectal temperature or other thermoregulatory responses. A central component of action is indicated by the fact that a much smaller intraventricular dose of phentolamine was required to exert the same effect as intraperitoneal injection. The data indicate that phentolamine decreases heat production and (or) increases heat loss which leads to hypothermia, probably via central nervous system actions.


2012 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. 472-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor B. Mekjavic ◽  
Stylianos N. Kounalakis ◽  
Michail E. Keramidas ◽  
Gianni Biolo ◽  
Marco Narici ◽  
...  

1984 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. DEGEN ◽  
B. A. YOUNG

Four steers were used in a 4 × 4 latin-square-designed study that consisted of four 14-day periods and four water treatments. Once daily for 30 min, the steers were offered either snow, crushed ice, cold water (CW) near 0 °C or warm water (WW near 30 °C. These restricted water sources were offered 18 h after feeding to maximize possible thermal stress due to ingestion of the cold or frozen water. The snow and ice treatments reduced water intakes, rumen volume and dry matter of rumen contents. The maximum increment in metabolic heat production was observed with the ice treatment, 278% of preingestion metabolic rate, and this treatment also elevated metabolic rate for the longest time (182.5 min). The total increment in heat production by the steers was approximately 50% of the heat energy required to melt the snow or ice and raise the resultant water to body temperature. Minimal rumen temperatures were observed earlier than minimal rectal temperatures with the ice treatment resulting in the largest decrease in both rumen (16.5 °C) and rectal (1.4 °C) temperature. When offered choices of pairs of all combinations of snow, ice, CW and WW, the steers showed no preference for either the CW or WW. They preferred liquid water but would consume snow or ice when no liquid water was available. It was concluded that steers can tolerate thermal stress resulting from rapid ingestion of snow and ice drawing approximately equally from body heat and from increased metabolic heat production to compensate for the latent heat and heat of warming water. Key words: Cold water, heat balance, thermal stress, cattle, snow


1990 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 833-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. NICOL ◽  
B. A. YOUNG

In a series of studies to simulate the ingestion of cold food, the rumen of adult sheep was cooled by 0–400 kJ over 1 h. Ruminal cooling reduced body heat content, increased rate of metabolic heat production and reduced apparent rate of heat loss to the environment. On average, each 100 kJ of cooling reduced heat content by 46 kJ, increased heat production by 20 kJ and reduced heat loss by 70 kJ. Precooling thermal status of the sheep affected the magnitude of the responses to cooling. A 0.1 °C higher precooling mean body temperature decreased the response in metabolic heat production by 6 kJ and increased the reduction in body heat content by 4.6 kJ. The heat production associated with eating reduced the heat loss response to ruminal cooling but did not affect the change in heat content. Well-insulated sheep were less affected by ruminal cooling. Key words: Sheep, rumen, cooling, heat production, temperature


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document