AGE AND CONTROL OF HUMAN SKIN BLOOD FLOW:: SKIN SYMPATHETIC NERVE ACTIVITY

该子项目是利用NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的许多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为中心机构，不一定为研究者机构。研究表明，老年人在寒冷中收缩皮肤血管的能力较弱。由于血管收缩增加了皮肤的绝缘能力，这种反应的损害会导致寒冷中的热量损失增加，并使老年人更容易患上体温过低症。VC中年龄相关改变的主要部位尚不清楚，但证据表明传出通路（节后交感神经活动、不同神经递质效应、皮肤血管反应），而不是下丘脑整合的主要年龄差异。本申请的具体目的是检查传出控制通路中可能发生年龄相关的反射VC衰减的可能和合理的位点。所提出的技术，定量皮肤显微神经，代表了一个国家的最先进的体内实验方法。直到最近，该技术或其最近的改进还不能用于在人体皮肤中体内测试所述假设。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Research has shown that older people are less able to constrict cutaneous blood vessels in the cold. Since vasoconstriction increases the insulative capacity of the skin, impairment of this response causes increased heat loss in the cold and can make older people more susceptible to hypothermia. The primary site(s) of the age-related alteration in VC is unknown, but evidence points to efferent pathways (postganglionic sympathetic nerve activity, differential neurotransmitter effects, cutaneous vascular response) rather than primary age differences in hypothalamic integration. The specific aim of the present application examines a possible and plausible site in the efferent control pathway at which the age-related attenuation of reflex VC may occur. The proposed technique, quantitative skin microneurography, represents a state-of-the-art in vivo experimental approach. Until recently, this technique, or recent refinements thereof, were not available to test the stated hypotheses in human skin in vivo.