Control of thermoregulatory sweating during exercise in the heat

The purposes of this study were the following: 1) to determine whether erythrocyte infusion alters the control of thermoregulatory sweating and 2) to demonstrate how increases and decreases of both plasma tonicity and blood volume influence the thermoregulatory control parameters of threshold temperature and sweating sensitivity. Six non-heat-acclimated and five heat-acclimated males attempted heat stress tests (HSTs) both before and shortly after (48-96 h) autologous erythrocyte infusion. The non-heat-acclimated subjects were euhydrated for both HSTs, whereas the heat-acclimated subjects were studied in a euhydrated and a hypohydrated (-5% body wt) condition both pre- and postinfusion (500 ml of solution containing approximately 60% hematocrit of autologous erythrocytes). The HSTs consisted of treadmill exercise (335 W.m-2) in a hot (35 degrees C, 45% relative humidity) environment, and esophageal temperature and local sweating rate were continuously measured during 25 min of exercise. These experiments resulted in a matrix of conditions where both plasma tonicity and blood volume were increased or decreased relative to control conditions (euhydration, preinfusion). The findings concerning thermoregulatory sweating during exercise in the heat were summarized as follows: 1) acute polycythemia decreases the threshold temperature and increases the sweating sensitivity, 2) both threshold temperature and sweating sensitivity are increased or decreased from control levels dependent on the combined influence of plasma tonicity and blood volume, and 3) equations are presented that describe how plasma tonicity and blood volume alter threshold temperature and sweating sensitivity values.