Sympathetic skin response following single and combined sound and electrical stimuli in young healthy subjects

Abstract

Introduction. Sympathetic skin response (SSR) is applied in evaluation of dysfunctions in autonomic nervous system. Among others, electrical and sound stimuli are most frequently used to evoke SSR. Aim. The aim of this study was to determine if the bell ring stimulus with parameters different from standard sound stimulation evokes similar reactions in autonomic system as electrical stimulus with defi ned parameters. Material and methods. SSR parameters were recorded following simultaneous sound and electrical stimulation. Twenty young volunteers (aged 23 ± 2.1 years) were examined once with SSR and R-R interval variation (RRIV) tests in order to confi rm lack of functional changes in autonomic nervous system. Results. Values of mean amplitudes of SSR were always higher during recordings from upper limbs than the lower ones irrespective of the three types of applied stimuli. Mean values of latencies were comparable when SSR were induced with acoustic, electrical and both stimuli during recordings performed from upper and lower extremities. Bell ring stimulus infl uenced only mean values of SSR area recorded both from upper (p ≤ 0.011) and lower (p ≤ 0.023) extremities. Heart beats variability in RRIV recordings changed at 13.5% which is comparable to results obtained by other authors. Conclusions. Results indicate that the application of different modalities stimuli evokes SSR with comparable parameters. Each of them can be used for objective evaluation of the sympathetic nervous system function. Both SSR and RRIV tests evaluating the function of two effector types should be applied for the diagnosis of the probable dysautonomia in patients who show unclear clinical symptoms.

HRV Analysis: Unpredictability of Approximate Entropy in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

“…Heart rate variability (HRV) is an easy, dependable and relatively cheap technique to monitor the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and, a useful technique for judging healthy and pathological states [7][8][9]. Alternative methods to monitor the ANS are either insensitive for example, sympathetic skin response [10,11] or too complicated and overpriced such as, quantitative pupillography [12]. Chaotic performances in biological and medical dynamical systems may specify normal physiological status but, loss of chaotic tendencies could be an abnormal and pathological marker [13].…”

Comparison of Sympathetic Skin Response (SSR) between Electrical and Acoustic Stimuli in a Healthy Pediatric Population

“…Considering that electrical stimulation represents a troublesome method for the patient, especially in the pediatric setting, if the SSR response from acoustic stimulation does not show significant differences, it could be introduced into clinical practice. The literature provides an already evaluated comparison of these two types of stimulus in a healthy young population, which shows their compatibility [ 27 ]. The aim of the present study is; therefore, to compare the SSR response obtained through the delivery of electrical and acoustic stimuli in a healthy pediatric population.…”

HRV analysis: undependability of approximate entropy at locating optimum complexity in malnourished children

“…As a technique, it is simple, dependable and cheap and an important technique for arbitrating physiologically healthy and/or pathological conditions [4][5][6]. Other techniques such as the sympathetic Skin Response is an alternative but unresponsive [7,8]. Quantitative Pupillography is complicated and expensive [9].…”