Sympathetic vasodilatation in human limbs

This review focuses on recent developments in our understanding of active v asodilatation in human skin and skeletal muscle. We have attempted to place recent advances in their historical contest and review the evolution of th inking on active vasodilatation in these two vascular beds. In human skin, active vasodilatation is well established, but the neurotransmitter respons ible for the dilatation is unknown. In human skeletal muscle, older studies provided circumstantial evidence consistent with sympathetically mediated vasodilatation, but the evidence was never unambiguous. By contrast, recent studies on active vasodilatation in human skeletal muscle in conjunction w ith a reinterpretation of data from Previous studies casts doubt on the exi stence of sympathetic vasodilator fibres in human skeletal muscle.