FINGER SUDOROMETRY AND ASSESSMENT OF THE SUDOMOTOR DRIVE

Sudorometry of the finger was carried out using the ventilated capsule method, the aim being to use the level of relative humidity within th e sudorometer as an indirect measure of the sudomotor drive. Subjects inserted a finger through a diaphragm of a finger-shaped, temperature- controlled chamber which also contained the humidity sensor. Manoeuvre s known to alter the sudomotor drive produced changes in chamber humid ity. The relative humidity within the sudorometer became constant afte r local anaesthesia of the digital nerves and after upper limb sympath ectomy, suggesting that fluctuations in the sudorometer output were de pendent upon an intact autonomic nervous system. In an environment in which temperature was controlled and arousal effects from the process of measurement were minimised, chamber humidity always increased durin g a Stroop test, providing a rapid means of indirectly assessing sudom otor drive mechanisms.