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A century of exercise physiology: concepts that ignited the study of human thermoregulation. Part 2: physiological measurements

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Abstract

In this, the second of four historical reviews on human thermoregulation during exercise, we examine the research techniques developed by our forebears. We emphasise calorimetry and thermometry, and measurements of vasomotor and sudomotor function. Since its first human use (1899), direct calorimetry has provided the foundation for modern respirometric methods for quantifying metabolic rate, and remains the most precise index of whole-body heat exchange and storage. Its alternative, biophysical modelling, relies upon many, often dubious assumptions. Thermometry, used for >300 y to assess deep-body temperatures, provides only an instantaneous snapshot of the thermal status of tissues in contact with any thermometer. Seemingly unbeknownst to some, thermal time delays at some surrogate sites preclude valid measurements during non-steady state conditions. To assess cutaneous blood flow, immersion plethysmography was introduced (1875), followed by strain-gauge plethysmography (1949) and then laser-Doppler velocimetry (1964). Those techniques allow only local flow measurements, which may not reflect whole-body blood flows. Sudomotor function has been estimated from body-mass losses since the 1600s, but using mass losses to assess evaporation rates requires precise measures of non-evaporated sweat, which are rarely obtained. Hygrometric methods provide data for local sweat rates, but not local evaporation rates, and most local sweat rates cannot be extrapolated to reflect whole-body sweating. The objective of these methodological overviews and critiques is to provide a deeper understanding of how modern measurement techniques were developed, their underlying assumptions, and the strengths and weaknesses of the measurements used for humans exercising and working in thermally challenging conditions.

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Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Mayow.jpg Accessed: January 3rd, 2023

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Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ice_calorimeter.jpg Accessed: June 3rd, 2022

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Reproduced with permission from Portland Press

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Copyright is retained by the Snellen estate

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Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blagden_Charles.jpg. Accessed: January 3rd, 2023

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Reproduced from Ringer and Stuart (1877) with permission from the Royal Society

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Source: Wellcome Collection. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/r8yk49u2 Accessed: June 3rd, 2022. Attribution 4.0 International (Creative Commons Attribution [CC BY 4.0])

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Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PSM_V17_D320_Mosso_plethysmograph.jpg Accessed: June 3rd, 2022. The arm is inserted into a glass cylinder (B), and sealed in place with a rubber band (A). Ports C and D are for water filling and recording water temperature. Vasomotion causes the volume of the arm to change, forcing water into tube F and then into a glass tube (G). Tube G, in turn, opens into a glass test tube (M) which is suspended in a beaker of water (P). Vasodilatation causes water to enter the test tube, which sinks lower in the beaker, causing the counterweight and kymograph pen (N) to move so that the volume change can be recorded

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Taken from Caldwell and Taylor (2014) and reproduced with permission. The limb segments, contained within a latex sleeve (glove or sock), are sealed into the inner compartment, after which the outer compartment was filled with water (filling port), and its temperature was independently regulated (water inlet and outlets ports). Calibration is completed via the filling port, through which a series of known volumes are injected to create a pressure–volume calibration curve. Changes in hydrostatic pressure, which accompany both the calibration and changes in vasomotor activity of the limb segment, are recorded from the displacement port

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Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanctorius.jpg Accessed: January 3rd, 2023

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Source: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/feftyczqAccessed: June 3rd, 2022

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Taken from Grew (1684; Figs. 1 and 2), and reproduced with permission

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Reproduced from Kuno (1934), and is in the Public Domain

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Data availability

Since this is a review and not an experimental paper, there are no experimental data to make available.

Abbreviations

\(\dot{V}\) CO2 :

Carbon dioxide production

\(\dot{V}\) O2 :

Oxygen consumption

ATP:

Adenosine triphosphate

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Acknowledgements

SRN was supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Human and Environmental Physiology Research Unit, University of Ottawa (Canada), during the developmental stages of this work. The authors acknowledge contributions from the libraries of the University of Western Australia and the University of the Witwatersrand during the writing of this manuscript. Finally, and by no means least, we acknowledge the many and varied, but always significant, contributions of our friends in science (also known as students and colleagues).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Defence Science and Technology Group, Department of Defence, Melbourne, Australia

    Sean R. Notley

  2. Brain Function Research Group, School of Physiology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Duncan Mitchell

  3. School of Human Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia

    Duncan Mitchell

  4. College of Human Ecology, Research Institute of Human Ecology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Nigel A. S. Taylor

  5. School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

    Sean R. Notley

Authors
  1. Sean R. Notley
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Contributions

SRN, DM and NAST developed and planned this review, and took part in all phases of manuscript preparation. Each author was responsible for writing specific sub-sections, and for editing all parts of this work. All authors approved the final submission of this manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nigel A. S. Taylor.

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Communicated by Michael I Lindinger.

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Notley, S.R., Mitchell, D. & Taylor, N.A.S. A century of exercise physiology: concepts that ignited the study of human thermoregulation. Part 2: physiological measurements. Eur J Appl Physiol 123, 2587–2685 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05284-3

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