1. Measurements of evaporative sweat loss were made on fifty-six premature and full-term babies 1-67 days after birth with an infra-red analyser and a ventilated capsule placed on the thigh. Measurements were also made of total evaporative water loss while in a closed metabolic chamber and of the regional distribution of sweating with starch- @entity1496 paper.2. No sweating to thermal stimuli could be detected in @entity1 of less than 210 days post-conceptual age, even when rectal temperature rose as high as 37.8 degrees C. In older @entity1 sweat was detected first on the forehead and temple, later on the chest, and usually by 240-260 days post-conceptual age on the legs (term approximately 268 days). Generalized sweating on the limbs appeared at an earlier post-conceptual age in the more prematurely born @entity1 .3. The response of sweat glands on the thigh to an intradermal injection of 2 mug @entity934 ( @entity1617 ) was tested. No sweat response was detected in @entity1 under 225 days post-conceptual age, while all @entity1 born within 2 weeks of term responded. The response was often augmented after 2-5 tests at 5-10 min intervals; all the eight @entity1 born within 2 weeks of term who were examined twice in the first 2 weeks of life showed a greater response on the second occasion.4. An average of 414 active sweat glands/cm(2) were detected on the thigh in eight babies 7-10 days old born within 2 weeks of term. This was 6(1/2) times the number found in adults. The mean peak sweat rate to chemical stimulation was however only 2.4 nl./gland.min, which was 3 times lower than the maximum rate recorded in adults.5. In five @entity1 with @entity75 and complete absence of temperature control there was no sweat response to thermal or direct chemical stimulation of the glands.6. Functional maturation appears to depend on intact central innervation and is marginally hastened by post-natal factors. Immaturity of the sweat glands can account for the lack of any response to thermal stimuli in premature babies, but not for the modest thermal response obtained in babies at term.

The response of the sweat glands of the newborn baby to thermal stimuli and to intradermal XXXX .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['infants'] @entity1496 :: ('MESH:D007455', 'Chemical') :: ['iodine'] @entity75 :: ('MESH:D001927', 'Disease') :: ['congenital defects of the brain'] @entity1617 :: ('CHEBI:22614', 'Chemical') :: ['ACh'] @entity934 :: ('MESH:D000109', 'Chemical') :: ['acetylcholine']
@entity934 :: (MESH:D000109,Chemical) :: ['acetylcholine']
