• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2022

Small fiber neuropathy is a painful neuropathy that cannot be assessed using nerve conduction studies. A skin biopsy and quantitative sensory testing (QST) are the gold standards for small fiber neuropathy diagnosis. However, a skin biopsy is invasive and commercially unavailable in Korea. QST is a method involving a thermal threshold, but its results can be affected by cognition as well as lesions of the central nervous system. Quantitative sudomotor axon reflex test (QSART) is a quantitative method of assessing sweat glands innervated by small fibers. In this review, we assessed the utility of QSART in evaluating small fiber neuropathy.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.233-237
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• 2007

Tropical natives (TROP) are capable of tolerating tropical heat because of their long-term adaptation to tropical environments. When exposed to heat stress, these natives tend to respond with lower sweat output, which is generally thought to be the result of heat acclimatization. The main objective of this study was to clarify central mechanisms inherent to suppressed thermal sweating in tropical natives (Malaysians) by comparing their sweating responses to those of temperate native (TEMP) (Koreans). This experiment was conducted in a thermoneutral climatic chamber ($24{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C,\;40{\pm}3%$ relative humidity). Heat loads were applied to each subject by the immersion of their lower legs in a hot water bath ($43^{\circ}C$ for 30 min). Sweat onset-time and sweat volume were compared between TROP and TEMP. The sweat onset-times on four selected points on the body ranged from 10.25 to 13.47 min in TEMP subjects, and from 16.24 to 17.83 min in TROP subjects (p<0.001). The local sweat volumes at the same sites ranged from 4.30 to $9.74 mg/cm^2$ in TEMP subjects, and from between 1.80 to $4.40mg/cm^2$ in TROP subjects (p<0.001). These results demonstrated a significant difference between TROP and TEMP subjects with regard to the manner in which they regulate their body temperatures when exposed to heat loads, and verified that long-term thermal adaptation blunts sweating sensitivities.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.21-25
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• 2004

People in tropics have the ability to tolerate heat by residential permanence in the tropics. Previously, we have shown that African and Thai subjects who lived for whole their lives in only their respective countries sweat less under hot conditions than South Koreans who also lived whole their lives in Korea. The difference in sweating responses was attributed to the dissimilar central and peripheral sweating mechanisms operating in people from both groups. In the present study, acetylcholine (ACh), the primary transmitter for the sudomotor functions, was iontophoretically administered to South Koreans and Africans to determine the characteristic sudorific responses of their acclimatized biologic make-up to their respective environments. Using quantitative sudomotor axon reflex test (QSART), direct (DIR) and axon reflex (AXR) responses were evaluated. The findings revealed that the sweat onset-time among South Koreans was 0.91 min earlier than among Africans (P<0.01). The axon reflex sweat volume of nicotine receptor activity AXR(1) and sweat volume of muscarinic receptor activity DIR(2) among South Koreans were 79% and 53% greater (P<0.01), respectively. These results indicate that the reduced thermal sweating among Africans is at least in part attributed to the diminished sensitivity of sweat glands to ACh.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2015

We investigated the sweating response during passive heating (partial submersion up to the umbilical line in $42{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$ water, 30 min) after summer and winter seasonal acclimatization (SA). Testing was performed in July during the summer, 2011 [summer-SA; temp, $25.6{\pm}1.8^{\circ}C;$ relative humidity (RH), $82.1{\pm}8.2%$] and in January during the winter, 2012 (winter-SA; temp, $-2.7{\pm}2.9^{\circ};$ RH, $65.0{\pm}13.1%$) in Cheonan ($126^{\circ}52^{\prime}N$, 33.38'E), Republic of Korea. All experiments were carried out in an automated climatic chamber (temp, $25.0{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$: RH, $60.0{\pm}3.0%$). Fifteen healthy men (age, $23.4{\pm}2.5$ years; height, $175.0{\pm}5.9cm;$ weight, $65.3{\pm}6.1kg$) participated in the study. Local sweat onset time was delayed during winter-SA compared to that after summer-SA (p<0.001). Local sweat volume, whole body sweat volume, and evaporative loss volume decreased significantly after winter-SA compared to those after summer-SA (p<0.001). Changes in basal metabolic rate increased significantly after winter-SA (p<0.001), and tympanic temperature and mean body temperature were significantly lower after summer-SA (p<0.05). In conclusion, central sudomotor acitivity becomes sensitive to summer-SA and blunt to winter-SA in Rebubic of Korea. These results suggest that the body adjusts its temperature by economically controlling the sweating rate but does not lower the thermal dissipation rate through a more effective evaporation scheme after summer-SA than that after winter-SA.