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Nonlinear Relationship between Level of Blood Flow and Skin Temperature for Different Dynamics of Temperature Change

Vesna Vuksanovi ^*, Lawrence William Sheppard  and Aneta Stefanovska 

^* Institute of Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia; and Department of Physics, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YB, United Kingdom

Correspondence: Address reprint requests and inquiries to Aneta Stefanovska, E-mail: aneta{at}lancaster.ac.uk.

We present a study of the relationship between blood flow and skin temperature under different dynamics of skin-temperature-change: locally induced thermal shock and well controlled, gradual change. First, we demonstrate memory phenomena for blood flow and skin temperature under both conditions. Secondly, we point out that the "hysteresis" loops obtained are dependent on initial conditions, indicating physiological response times of more than twenty minutes. We also show that under thermal shock the level of blood flow is preserved up to some characteristic temperature limit, independently of subject.