QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF THERMAL AND EVAPORATIVE ADJUSTMENTS OF HUMAN SCROTAL SKIN IN RESPONSE TO HEAT-STRESS

To study scrotal thermoregulation and its efficacy to work against hea t accumulation, five subjects were exposed to four experimental condit ions under which core and skin temperatures and sweat evaporative resp onses of various skin surfaces-chest, abdomen and scrotum-were compare d. The temperature response of the scrotal area exhibited the largest inertia, and this observation is likely to be the consequence of heat exchange via the vascularization of testes and scrotum which is more e fficient than in other parts of the body in limiting local heat storag e, thus alleviating heat stress of the testis. The pulsatile nature an d the synchronous pattern of the scrotal evaporative heat loss indicat e that scrotal sweating takes place, although the gradient response ap peared to be less marked than elsewhere in the body. Relatively low an d inert scrotal temperature can partly explain this poor local drive f or sweating.