Authors: Heather Lunt Michael Tipton
Publish Date: 2014/08/31
Volume: 114, Issue: 12, Pages: 2635-2644
Abstract
Twelve females and twelve males exposed the soles of their feet to a cooling plate which cooled from 35 to 15 °C on two occasions 12–15 days apart For females sessions took place during their inactive and active contraceptive pill phases Tip of Great toe temperature and Great toe skin blood flow were recorded throughoutFemales’ feet cooled to a greater extent than males’ P = 0001 Sensitivity of toe skin blood flow to changes in skin temperature 1 or 2 °C was not different between males and females Dimensions of males’ feet were larger than females’ P 005 and correlations between foot dimensions and toe skin cooling were found r = 0728 P 0001 Analysis of the residual variance showed that foot volume contact area and skin blood flow correlated with the rate of toe skin cooling r = 0812 r 2 = 0659 P 0001 No intramenstrual differences were foundThe feet of females cooled at a faster rate than those of males in response to the same conductive cooling stimulus to the soles of the feet However similar reductions in skin blood flow were found for the same change in toe skin temperature Therefore sex related differences may be due to the differing dimensions of the feet but further research including males and females matched for foot dimensions are required to confirm this mechanismThe study was approved by the University of Portsmouth Biosciences Research Ethics Committee and conducted under the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and Council of Europe 2005 additional protocol to the convention on human rights and biomedicine concerning biomedical research
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