Thermoregulation, Chapter 12,
Abstract
Lying at the boundary between the body and the thermal environment, the skin is strategically placed for an important role in thermoregulation, and serves both as a source of thermal information and as an effector organ for controlling heat loss from the body. Living tissue is directly injured if it is heated to temperatures higher than about 45 deg C , the level at which heating the skin causes pain, or if it is cooled so that ice crystals form in the cells. Because of its exposed location the skin is particularly vulnerable to injury by extremes of temperature in the immediate environment; and, in addition to its thermoregulatory responses, local vasodilator responses are elicited when tissue temperature rises toward 40 deg C or falls toward 10 deg C, which help to protect the skin against extremes of temperature.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA330791
Entities
People
- C. B. Wenger
Organizations
- United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine