[Temperature gradients in the skin and heat loss in various environmental temperatures]

Increase of the chamber temperature from 15 degrees to 30 degrees C induced a significant drop in the heat emission and in temperature gradients on the rabbit nose, back and abdomen skin (1.0--1.2 and 2.0--2.5 mm from the surface). The revealed reduction of the temperature gradient values is within limits of thermoreceptor sensitivity. One can assume that the thermoreceptors situated on different skin layers are able to measure the temperature gradients (i. e. the heat flows).