Abstract
Purpose
Children thermoregulate effectively during exercise despite sweating rate being consistently lower when compared with adults. The skin blood flow (SkBF) response of children to exercise is inconsistent, when compared with adults. We examined the SkBF response to exercise in children and adults, along with the potential contribution of nitric oxide to the SkBF response.
Methods
Forearm SkBF during cycling (30 min at 60% \(\dot{V}\)O2max) was investigated in 12 boys (10 ± 1 years) and 12 men (22 ± 2 years) using laser-Doppler flowmetry and Nω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) iontophoresis to inhibit nitric oxide synthase.
Results
The exercise-induced SkBF increase was similar in boys and men (mean ± SD, 540 ± 127 vs. 536 ± 103% baseline, respectively, p = 0.43, d = 0.01 [− 0.8 to 0.8]). However, the total hyperaemic response to exercise (area-under-the-curve, AUC) indicated that boys had a greater vasodilatory response (cutaneous vascular resistance, CVC) (p < 0.01, d = 0.6 [− 1.2 to 2.8] than the men (134,215 ± 29,207 vs. 107,257 ± 20,320 CVC·s−1). L-NAME blunted the SkBF response more in boys than in men (group-by-treatment interaction, p < 0.001) and resulted in smaller AUC in boys (56,411 ± 23,033 CVC·s−1; p < 0.001, d = 1.4 [− 0.4 to 3.2] compared with men (80,556 ± 28,443 CVC·s−1; p = 0.08, d = 0.8 [0.0–1.6]). Boys had a shorter delay from the onset of exercise to onset of SkBF response compared with men (205 ± 48 and 309 ± 71 s, respectively; p < 0.01, d = 1.7 [0.9–2.8]). L-NAME increased the delay in boys and men (to 268 ± 90 and 376 ± 116 s, respectively; p = 0.01, d = 1.0 [0.4–2.1]) but this delay was not significantly different between the groups (p = 0.85).
Conclusions
These findings suggest that boys experience greater vasodilation and faster increases in SkBF during exercise compared with men. The contribution of nitric oxide to the SkBF response to exercise appears to be greater in boys than in men.
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Change history
13 March 2020
One of the co-authors, Raffy Dotan, wishes to remove his name from the original version of this article. The corrected author group should be.
Abbreviations
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- BSA:
-
Body surface area
- BSA/M:
-
BSA-to-mass ratio
- % BF:
-
Body fat percentage
- CVC:
-
Cutaneous vascular conductance
- FBF:
-
Forearm blood flow
- LDF:
-
Laser Doppler flowmetry
- L-NAME:
-
Nω-Nitro-l-arginine methyl ester
- NO:
-
Nitric oxide
- NOS:
-
Nitric oxide synthase
- PU:
-
Perfusion units
- RPE:
-
Rating of perceived exertion
- SkBF:
-
Skin blood flow
- \(\overline{T}\) sk :
-
Mean skin temperature
- \(\user2{ }\dot{V}\)O2max :
-
Maximum oxygen consumptio
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Acknowledgements
We thank the participants and the parents of the child participants for volunteering their time and effort in this study.
Funding
This study was supported by a Collaborative Health Research Project Grant co-sponsored by Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council.
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GH, PK and BF conceived and designed research. AW, GH, and RJM conducted experiments. AW, GH and BF analyzed data and wrote the manuscript. PK commented on previous versions. All authors read and approved the manuscript.
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Communicated by George Havenith.
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The original version of this article was revised: One of the co-authors Raffy Dotan wishes to remove his name.
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Woloschuk, A., Hodges, G.J., Massarotto, R.J. et al. The skin blood flow response to exercise in boys and men and the role of nitric oxide. Eur J Appl Physiol 120, 753–762 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-019-04286-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-019-04286-4