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Thermal sensation during mild hyperthermia is modulated by acute postural change in humans

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Abstract

Thermal sensation represents the primary stimulus for behavioral and autonomic thermoregulation. We assessed whether the sensation of skin and core temperatures for the driving force of behavioral thermoregulation was modified by postural change from the supine (Sup) to sitting (Sit) during mild hyperthermia. Seventeen healthy young men underwent measurements of noticeable increase and decrease (±0.1 °C/s) of skin temperature (thresholds of warm and cold sensation on the skin, 6.25 cm2 of area) at the forearm and chest and of the whole-body warm sensation in the Sup and Sit during normothermia (NT; esophageal temperature (Tes), ∼36.6 °C) and mild hyperthermia (HT; Tes, ∼37.2 °C; lower legs immersion in 42 °C of water). The threshold for cold sensation on the skin at chest was lower during HT than NT in the Sit (P < 0.05) but not in Sup, and at the forearm was lower during HT than NT in the Sup and further in Sit (both, P < 0.05), with interactive effects of temperature (NT vs. HT) × posture (Sup vs. Sit) (chest, P = 0.08; forearm, P < 0.05). The threshold for warm sensation on the skin at both sites remained unchanged with changes in body posture or temperature. The whole-body warm sensation was higher during HT than NT in both postures and higher in the Sit than Sup during both NT and HT (all, P < 0.05). Thus, thermal sensation during mild hyperthermia is modulated by postural change from supine to sitting to sense lesser cold on the skin and more whole-body warmth.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to the volunteers who participated in this study. We also thank Dr. Takaaki Okumoto from our laboratory, and Dr. Shinya Matsumura from the department of Sport Science and Medical Science, Osaka University of Health and Sport Science, for useful comments and suggestions regarding this manuscript.

Author contributions

R.T. contributed to the design of the experiment, data collection, assembly, analysis and interpretation, and drafted the article; D.I., A.S., A.O., N.N., Y.Y., and Y.H. contributed to data collection, analysis and interpretation, and revised the article; H.Y. and T.M. contributed to data interpretation and revised the article; K.O. contributed to the conception, the design of the experiment, data interpretation, and revised the article critically for important intellectual content. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Physiology for Exercise, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi, Osaka, 558-8585, Japan

    Ryosuke Takeda, Daiki Imai, Akina Suzuki, Akemi Ota, Nooshin Naghavi, Yoshihiro Yamashina, Yoshikazu Hirasawa, Hisayo Yokoyama, Toshiaki Miyagawa & Kazunobu Okazaki

  2. Research Center for Urban Health and Sports, Osaka City University, 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi, Osaka, 558-8585, Japan

    Daiki Imai, Hisayo Yokoyama, Toshiaki Miyagawa & Kazunobu Okazaki

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  1. Ryosuke Takeda
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  2. Daiki Imai
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  3. Akina Suzuki
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  4. Akemi Ota
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  7. Yoshikazu Hirasawa
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  9. Toshiaki Miyagawa
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  10. Kazunobu Okazaki
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kazunobu Okazaki.

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The study procedure was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine and conformed to the standards set by the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Source of funding

This study was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists A 23689014 and Challenging Exploratory Research 25560372 (to K. Okazaki) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.

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Takeda, R., Imai, D., Suzuki, A. et al. Thermal sensation during mild hyperthermia is modulated by acute postural change in humans. Int J Biometeorol 60, 1925–1932 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-016-1179-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-016-1179-y

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