The dead zone of thermoregulation in normal and paraplegic man

Independent heating and cooling of the core and skin were performed to a normal and a paraplegic subject. It was found that the core threshold temperature for vasoconstriction release was between that for shivering and sweating. After the onset of sweating, vasodilation of the forearm was observed to increase sharply. The core threshold temperature of sweating of the paraplegic was 0.7 degrees C higher than that of the normal at corresponding mean sentient skin temperatures. No sweating was observed in the spinal man without raising his core temperature. It appeared that the dead zone of thermoregulation is shifted up in the spinal patient and the possible reasons for this are discussed.