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Quantitative Assessment of Forelimb Vasomotor Response to Thermal Stressors
Location: 37
Mentor: Dr. Patrick Ganzer
The human body is reliant on the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) to regulate its arterial pressure, cardiac muscle contractility, and blood distribution during cardiovascular (CV) stress. The SNS can be damaged in spinal cord injury (SCI), leading to CV dysregulation. While electrodermal responses in people both neurologically intact and with SCI have been previously reported using multiple stressors, less literature exists on the vasomotor aspects of sympathetic outflow. This study aims to understand sympathetic outflow in healthy, neurologically intact adults using a thermal stressor to evaluate associated evoked vasomotor responses. Control participants with no history of neurological trauma or peripheral neuropathies were enrolled; Photoplethysmography (PPG) responses to a thermal stressor presented by heating the forearm for 10 minutes were recorded. PPGs were recorded from the ring finger, site of heating (forearm), and the antecubital fossa (elbow). We report temporal and spectral features across PPG activity that varied by recording level. Signals showed modulation aligned with heating onset and returned to baseline within similar times across participants. Understanding of features showing modulation in these vasomotor responses will aid in the development of a systematic assessment of sympathetic dysregulation when applied to SCI.
