Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2003. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Abtrakt (EN) In spite of the fact that the diabetic foot syndrome is not considered a marginal complication of the patients with diabetes mellitus any more, its prevalence and incidence is not decreasing. The fact that early diagnosis and treatment or even prevention of foot ulcers is associated with a decrease in healthcare costs and, more importantly, with reducing patients' suffering, applies also in this case. The dissertation work originated in the Diabetologic Center of the Medical department I., University Hospital and Medical Faculty in Pilsen, Charles University in Prague, which has been dealing with diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in patients with diabetic foot syndrome for over 20 years. The examinations for diagnosis of the main etiologic factors, i.e. peripheral neuropathy and impaired perfusion, belong to already routine ordinary procedures here. My task was to move the diagnostics of this complication to earlier stages, even before the development of the ulcers, through diagnosing an impairment in skin microcirculation. The aim of the work was to evaluate reactivity of the skin microcirculation in patients with diabetes mellitus using laser doppler flowmetry and to introduce a new method - iontophoresis. Skin microcirculation assessment has become a center of interest of many studies...

Abtrakt (EN) In spite of the fact that the diabetic foot syndrome is not considered a marginal complication of the patients with diabetes mellitus any more, its prevalence and incidence is not decreasing. The fact that early diagnosis and treatment or even prevention of foot ulcers is associated with a decrease in healthcare costs and, more importantly, with reducing patients' suffering, applies also in this case. The dissertation work originated in the Diabetologic Center of the Medical department I., University Hospital and Medical Faculty in Pilsen, Charles University in Prague, which has been dealing with diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in patients with diabetic foot syndrome for over 20 years. The examinations for diagnosis of the main etiologic factors, i.e. peripheral neuropathy and impaired perfusion, belong to already routine ordinary procedures here. My task was to move the diagnostics of this complication to earlier stages, even before the development of the ulcers, through diagnosing an impairment in skin microcirculation. The aim of the work was to evaluate reactivity of the skin microcirculation in patients with diabetes mellitus using laser doppler flowmetry and to introduce a new method - iontophoresis. Skin microcirculation assessment has become a center of interest of many studies...

La microcirculation est constituée d’un réseau vasculaire qui comprend les artérioles, les veinules et les capillaires. La microcirculation cutanée est un paramètre physiologique important pour les applications cliniques avancées comme le syndrome de Raynaud ou la prévention des escarres. De nombreuses méthodes non ambulatoires ont été développées afin de mesurer la microcirculation sanguine. La tendance actuelle dans le domaine des technologies pour la santé est la miniaturisation des capteurs et de leurs instrumentations associées pour les rendre non-invasifs, portables par le patient et ainsi adaptés aux mesures ambulatoires en conditions réelles, ou appelées aussi « écologiques ». Le manuscrit présente la conception et la réalisation d’un système électronique miniaturisé ambulatoire (µHématron), permettant de réaliser un monitoring continu, en temps réel de la conductivité thermique tissulaire qui est l’image de la microcirculation dans les capillaires. La première expérimentation effectuée a pour l’objectif de confronter le système µHématron avec un moniteur de fluxmétrie laser Doppler, au cours d’une étude destinée à évaluer le confort thermique chez l’homme. Ainsi, une étude d’influence de la température de différentes ambiances sur un certain nombre de paramètres de la peau de sujets sains, y compris la microcirculation cutanée, a été réalisée. Les corrélations obtenues entre les variations des deux signaux des deux instrumentations pour les ambiances neutres, chaudes et froides sont présentées. La deuxième expérimentation est consacrée à l’étude préliminaire de l’effet global des bas médicaux de compression sur la microcirculation cutanée des membres inférieurs de sujets sains. Grâce à l’instrumentation ambulatoire, la microcirculation a pu être évaluée de façon continue pour différentes postures des sujets : allongée, assise, débout et en marche, et ce, pour des différentes classes de bas de compression (I, II, et III). Cette étude a permis d’améliorer la compréhension de l’effet de ces bas sur les sujets sains. / The microcirculation consists of a vascular network that includes arterioles, venules and capillaries. Skin microcirculation is an important physiological parameter for advanced clinical applications such as Raynaud's syndrome or the prevention of ulcers. Many non-ambulatory methods were developed to measure blood microcirculation. The current trend in the field of health technology is the miniaturization of sensors and their associated instrumentation to make them non-invasive, portable by the patient and adapted to ambulatory measurements in time real, or also known as « ecological ». The manuscript presents the design and the realization of an ambulatory miniaturized electronic system (μHematron), to achieve continuous monitoring of the effective thermal conductivity in real-time that is the image of the microcirculation in the capillaries. The first experimentation was performed to compare the µHematron system with a laser Doppler flowmetry monitor, during a study which aims to evaluate thermal comfort in humans. A study of the effects of different temperature environments on a group of skin parameters of healthy subjects, including the cutaneous microcirculation, was performed. Correlations between changes in the two signals of both instrumentations for neutral, hot and cold temperatures are presented. The second experimentation is aimed to a preliminary study of the global effect of medical compression stockings on the cutaneous microcirculation of the lower extremities of healthy subjects. Thanks to the ambulatory instrumentation, the microcirculation has been measured continuously for different postures of subject: lying, sitting, standing and walking, and this for different classes of compression stockings (I, II, and III). This study has improved the understanding of the effect of these stockings on healthy subjects.

The peripheral skin microcirculation reflects the overall health status of the cardiovascular system and can be examined non-invasively by laser methods to assess early cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, i.e. oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction. Examples of methods used for this task are the laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) and laser fluorescence spectroscopy (LFS), which respectively allow tracing blood flow and the amounts of the coenzyme NAD(P)H (nicotamide adenine dinucleotide) that is involved in the cellular production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) energy. In this work, these methods were combined with iontophoresis and PORH (post-occlusive reactive hyperaemia) reactive tests to assess skin microvascular function and oxidative stress in mice and human subjects. The main focus of the research was exploring the nonlinear dynamics of skin LDF and NAD(P)H time series by processing the signals with the wavelet transform analysis. The study of nonlinear fluctuations of the microcirculation and cell energy metabolism allows detecting dynamic oscillators reflecting the activity of microvascular factors (i.e. endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, sympathetic nerves) and specific patterns of mitochondrial or glycolytic ATP production. Monitoring these dynamic factors is powerful for the prediction of general vascular/metabolic health conditions, and can help the study of the mechanisms at the basis of the rhythmic fluctuations of micro-vessels diameter (vasomotion). In this thesis, the microvascular and metabolic dynamic biomarkers were characterised <i>in-vivo</i> in a mouse model affected by oxidative stress and a human cohort of smokers. Data comparison, respectively, with results from control mice and non-smokers, revealed significant differences suggesting the eligibility of these markers as predictors of risk associated with oxidative stress and smoke. Moreover, a relevant link between microvascular and metabolic oscillators was observed during vasomotion induced by α-adrenergic (in mice) or PORH (in humans) stimulations, suggesting a possible role of cellular Ca²⁺oscillations of metabolic origin as drivers of vasomotion which is a theory poorly explored in literature. As future perspective, further exploration of these promising nonlinear biomarkers is required in the presence of risk factors different from smoke or oxidative stress and during vasomotion induced by stimuli different from PORH or α-adrenergic reactive challenges, to obtain a full picture on the use of these factors as predictors of risk and their role in the regulation of vasomotion.

Les modèles actuels de prédiction de la sensation thermique et du confort thermique ainsi que les solutions visant à améliorer l’état de bien-être thermique des occupants d’un bâtiment sont insuffisants. Ils ne prennent pas assez en compte les différences interindividuelles de jugement thermosensoriel. Pourtant, ces différences, souvent associées à la sensibilité thermique de chaque individu, existent mais restent inexpliquées sur le plan physiologique. Ces travaux de thèse, qui se sont déroulés en deux étapes, ont pour objectif d'identifier les causes physiologiques potentielles des différences interindividuelles du ressenti thermique, à travers des expérimentations multiparamétriques basées sur des mesurées cutanées. Toutes les mesures ont été réalisées après 30 minutes d’acclimatation en environnement thermique contrôlé. La première étape, exploratoire, a permis d’analyser à la fois l’activité neurosensorielle, les propriétés thermo-vasculaires et les propriétés du film hydrolipidique cutané de deux groupes présentant des sensibilités au froid distinctes (selon leur sensation thermique déclarée). Ainsi, les expérimentations ont montré qu’il était plus pertinent d’analyser davantage les propriétés cutanées thermiques et hydriques (reliées aux mécanismes de thermorégulation) plutôt que l’activité neurosensorielle des volontaires pour caractériser les différences interindividuelles de jugement thermosensoriel. Elles ont également mis en évidence la nécessité de contrôler les facteurs non thermiques des environnements et de sélectionner rigoureusement les sujets. La deuxième étape s’est focalisée sur l’analyse des propriétés thermo-vasculaires et des propriétés du film hydrolipidique de deux groupes de sensibilité au froid. Pour cela, 13 femmes ont été confrontées à 6 environnements de températures modérées comprises entre 17°C et 30°C (avec 2 transitions chaudes et 2 transitions froides) et les groupes ont été construits à partir du degré de frilosité déclaré par les sujets. Des différences sur les paramètres cutanées ont alors pu être relevées entre les deux groupes. Le résultat le plus significatif est que les individus dits « frileux » présentent une activité microcirculatoire plus intense sur les joues avec une vasoconstriction plus forte au froid et une vasodilatation plus forte au chaud que l’autre groupe « non sensible au froid » (p=0,002 d’après le test de l’ANCOVA pour l’effet des groupes). De plus, il a été montré que l’approche multiparamétrique (introduction de variables non thermiques comme variables prédictives) ainsi que la prise en compte des sensibilités thermiques individuelles améliorent la prédiction du confort thermique surtout pour le groupe « frileux » (+ 6,4 %). / Current models for predicting thermal sensation and thermal comfort as well as the solutions to improve the state of thermal well-being of the occupants of a building are insufficient. They do not sufficiently take into account interindividual differences of thermosensory judgment. However, these differences, often associated with thermal sensitivity of each person, exist but remain unexplained physiologically. This work, divided into two stages, is intended to identify the potential physiological causes of interindividual differences of thermal feeling through multiparametric experiments based on skin measurements. All measurements were performed after 30 minutes of acclimatization in controlled environment. The exploratory phase allowed to analyze both neurosensory activity, thermo-vascular properties and properties of the skin hydrolipidic film of two groups with different cold sensitivities (depending on their declared thermal sensation). For example, experiments have shown that it was more appropriate to analyse thermal and hydric skin properties (related to thermoregulation mechanisms) rather than neurosensory activity of volunteers to characterize interindividual differences of thermosensory judgment. They have also highlighted the need to control the non-thermal factors of environments and rigorously select subjects. The second step focused on the analysis of thermo-vascular properties and properties of the hydrolipidic film of two groups of different cold sensitivity. Thirteen women have faced in 6 environments of moderate temperatures between 17 ° C and 30 ° C (with 2 warm transitions and 2 cold transitions). Groups were built according to their degree of cold sensitivity. Differences in skin parameters have been found between the two groups. The most significant result is that cold-sensitive individuals have a more intense microcirculatory activity on cheeks with a stronger vasoconstriction in cold environments and a stronger vasodilation in warm environement than the non cold-sensitive group (p = 0. 002 according to ANCOVA test for groups effect). In addition, it has been shown that the multi-parametric approach (introduction of non-thermal parameters as predictors) as well as taking into account individual thermal sensitivities improve the prediction of thermal comfort especially for the cold-sensitive group (+ 6.4%).