Journal article
Toward isolating perceptual and physiological contributors to heat sensitivity in multiple sclerosis: insights from a new experimental model
European journal of applied physiology, Vol.125(11), pp.3195-3208
11/2025
PMID: 40500533
Appears in Recent Faculty of Health Publications
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Abstract
To determine if reductions in whole-body thermal sensation (WBTS) with localised skin cooling mitigate heat-induced visual performance decrements in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), optic neuritis, and heat-sensitive visual symptoms, independent of core temperature increases.
Thirteen participants (7 relapsing-remitting MS (MS) patients with unilateral (left) optic neuritis and heat-sensitive visual symptoms; 6 controls) underwent visual performance testing on each eye at baseline and during passive heating (0.6℃ rise in gastrointestinal temperature (ΔT
) via a hot water-perfused suit) under two counterbalanced crossover ordered conditions: 1) cold packs (0℃-CLD) or 2) hot packs (50℃-HOT) applied to the lower back. WBTS, visual symptoms, multifocal visual evoked potentials (mf-VEPs) amplitude/latency, and contrast sensitivity were assessed.
ΔT
was consistent across trials (p = 0.213; η
= 0.21). WBTS was only marginally lower (p = 0.017; η
= 0.42) in CLD than HOT for MS (CLD: 5.8 ± 0.9 a.u.; HOT: 6.4 ± 0.7 a.u.) and controls (CLD: 5.0 ± 0.9 a.u.; HOT: 5.9 ± 0.7 a.u.). Passive heating worsened (p = 0.027; η
= 0.59) visual symptoms in the affected eye similarly (p = 0.356; η
= 0.14) for HOT and CLD conditions. Heating reduced mf-VEPs amplitude in the left (affected) eye (p = 0.007; η
= 0.50) similarly (p = 0.332; η
= 0.09) across groups and conditions. For the unaffected (right) eye, reductions in mf-VEPs amplitude were greater in MS than controls (p = 0.031; η
= 0.36), with no difference between conditions (p = 0.339; η
= 0.08). mf-VEPs latency and contrast sensitivity were unaffected by heating.
Localised skin cooling during passive heating to a moderate core temperature produces only a modest reduction in WBTS and does not mitigate heat-induced visual performance decrements. The limited perceptual difference achieved suggests the localised skin cooling was insufficient to meaningfully isolate the effects of skin temperature from core temperature.
Details
- Title
- Toward isolating perceptual and physiological contributors to heat sensitivity in multiple sclerosis: insights from a new experimental model
- Creators
- Timothy English - The University of SydneyJoshua Barton - Southern Cross UniversityNicole Vargas - Australian National UniversityMichael Barnett - The University of SydneyOllie Jay - The University of Sydney
- Publication Details
- European journal of applied physiology, Vol.125(11), pp.3195-3208
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Grant note
- Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions.
- Identifiers
- 991013372735302368
- Copyright
- © The Author(s) 2025.
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Health
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article