Studies on Vascular Responses to Cold Stimuli in the Korean Diving Women

한냉자극(寒冷刺戟)에 대한 한국해녀의 혈관계 반응(血管系反應)에 관한 연구

Experiments on thermoregulatory responses to cold immersion stimulus were carried out in September, 1968 (summer studies) and February, 1969 (winter studies). Eight each of ama and control subject were selected at random from a same community in Yong-Do Island, Pusan. The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1) The rate of fall in muscle temperature of forearm during a 30 min-immersion in $6^{\circ}C$ water bath was significantly slower in the ama in winter and was about the same in the two groups in summer. However, the magnitude of change in the skin temperature and the heat fluxes observed during immersion period was not significantly different either between groups or between seasons. 2) Both finger blood flow and skin temperature during one hr-immersion in $6^{\circ}C$ water bath decreased significantly in the ama as compared to the control. The magnitude of cold-induced vasodilatation during immersion period was significantly greater in the control in winter. However, the time of onset and blood flow at onset showed no significant relation between groups. 3) The magnitude of reactive hyperemia after a 5 min-arterial occlusion in both air and $15^{\circ}C$ water bath was significantly lower in the ana than in the control. In control subjects, post-occluded blood flow in water was significantly greater than in air, while in the ama it decreased to 1/2 of control values. The time required for the return of blood flow to resting values in the air was faster in the ama than in the control but was the same in water in the two groups. 4) The results suggest that vasoconstrictor tone increased in the ama in winter, indicating the development of vascular adaptation as a part of cold acclimatization.