Skin blood flow and temperature oscillations during cold pressor test.

We study the relationship between the blood flow and skin temperature variations under a cold pressor test (CPT). The simultaneous laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) and skin temperature (ST) measurements were carried out for 8 healthy subjects on the skin surface of the distal phalanx of the second (LDF) and third (ST) fingers. The skin blood perfusion decreases stepwise about twice during contralateral CPT for all 8 subjects. The temperature of the finger pad decays monotonically during the test and dropped about 1°C in mean. The power spectral densities of LDF flow and ST variations are also affected by the CPT, but subjects under study demonstrate two different types of reaction. LDF pulsations at the frequency about 0.1 Hz, which corresponds to the myogenic mechanism of vascular tone regulation, decreases in 5 subjects and increases in other 3 subjects. However in all subjects the ST pulsations behave contradictory, namely, the changes in amplitude of blood perfusion and ST pulsations due to cold pressor test are strongly anticorrelated. We discuss possible mechanisms of vascular reaction that can cause the behavior observed.