History of Thermal and Environmental Physiology in Japan: the Heritage of Yas Kuno
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FRONT MATTER: HISTORY Temperature 2:3, 310--315; July/August/September 2015; Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC History of thermal and environmental physiology in Japan: the heritage of Yas Kuno Taketoshi Morimoto* Department of Physiology; Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine; Kawaramachi Hirokoji; Kamigyoku, Kyoto, Japan r. Yas Kuno was a pioneer in the Kokichi Ohara and Teruo Nakayama. sweating from human skin. A celluloid Dfield of sweat gland physiology. He Many students joined the laboratories run dish attached to the skin was ventilated by trained many research scientists who by that first generation, comprising the dry air and connected to a U-tube filled formed the first generation of thermal second generation of thermal and environ- with calcium chloride. Sweat from the physiologists. In turn, these investigators mental physiologists in Japan. Further- skin was trapped by the U-tube, and the recruited qualified investigators, forming more, the students of the second sweat rate was determined from the weight the second and third generations of ther- generation form the third and fourth gen- change of the U-tube measured every mal physiologists. At present, the third erations of thermal and environmental 5 minutes. Based on the systematic and and fourth generations of investigators physiologists who are actively working at extensive sweating activity measurements are actively engaged in research, expand- the present. taken with this method, he classified ing their interests to neurophysiology, Avoiding sectionalism, Kuno stressed sweating into 2 categories: “thermal chronobiology and exercise physiology. the importance of creative and cooperative sweating,” resulting from heat accumula- research. He also felt it was important to tion in the body, and “mental sweating,” share ideas and encourage each other stimulated by mental stress. He also stud- Historical Background through scientific meetings. His philoso- ied the development of secretory activity phy became a tradition that is now hon- in the sweat glands, together with their The first scientific publication in the ored by Japanese physiologists in this field. innervation and humoral control, as well field of temperature regulation from Japan The following is a review of each of as the physiological significance of thermal was The Physiology of Human Perspiration, these generations of thermal and environ- sweating in body temperature regulation. published by Churchill in 1934 by Yas mental physiologists in Japan, with The results of those studies were published Kuno. An extended edition, titled Human emphasis on their cooperative works and as The Physiology of Human Perspiration1 Perspiration, was published as a mono- the international meetings they organized. in 1934. graph in American Lectures in Physiology In 1939, he assumed a post as a Professor by CC Thomas in 1956. of Physiology at Nagoya University School The first generation of thermal and The Legacy of Yas Kuno of Medicine, where he extended his work on environmental physiologists in Japan who (1882–1977) sweating and covered further details of the worked together with Kuno include Kore- sweating mechanism, including hemi- hiro Ogata, Shinji Itoh, Hisato Yoshi- Yas Kuno was born on March 30, hidrotic response, pulsatile secretion of mura, and Kentaro Takagi, as well as 1882, in Aichi Prefecture. After graduat- sweating, the effects of thermal sweating on ing from Aichi Medical School, the fore- water and salt metabolism, and the related Keywords: environmental physiology, runner of the Nagoya University School pathophysiology. The results of those studies history, Japan, thermal physiology, Yas of Medicine, he studied physiology at the were summarized in Human Perspiration2 as Kuno University of Tokyo and then at Kyoto a monograph in American Lectures in Physi- © Taketoshi Morimoto University until 1911, when he was ology in 1956. *Correspondence to: Taketoshi Morimoto; appointed Professor of Physiology at Nan- After retiring from Nagoya Univer- Email: [email protected] man Medical School of Medicine. In sity in 1955, he continued his studies Submitted: 04/28/2015 1913, he went to Leipzig to study physiol- on human sweating at the Kyoto Pre- Revised: 05/26/2015 ogy and then moved to the University fectural University of Medicine. The College London to study the physiology final presentation of his life-long work Accepted: 06/24/2015 of circulation with Prof. Ernest Starling. wasmadeintoaspeciallecturetitled http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23328940.2015.1066920 After returning to Japan, he initiated his The Mechanism of Human Sweat Secre- This is an Open Access article distributed under studies on the physiology of sweating, tion at the XXIII International Congress the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- Non-Commercial License (http://creativecom which became his life work. He noticed of Physiology in Tokyo in 1965. In mons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits that heavy sweating in cold northern dis- that lecture, he presented a hypothesis unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, trict leads to frostbite in the hands and that the neural control of human sweat and reproduction in any medium, provided the feet. To analyze sweating mechanisms, he apparatus has developed into cholinergic original work is properly cited. The moral rights devised a new method for obtaining con- innervation from the adrenergic inner- of the named author(s) have been asserted. tinuous measurements of the rate of vation of the sweat glands of primitive 310 Temperature Volume 2 Issue 3 Table 1. Cooperative Research Projects on Thermal and Environmental Physiology in Japan Years Title Organizer or Author 1946–1953 Physiological Response to Seasonal Variations Y Kuno 1956–1958 Physiological Response to Cold Weather Y Kuno 1956–1957 Disorders due to Cold Weather H Yoshimura 1964–1965 Adaption to Climate H Yoshimura 1966–1972 International Biological Program H Yoshimura 1966–1972 Heat and Cold Tolerance H Yoshimura 1966–1972 Adaptability of Ama (Diving women) S Kobayashi 1969–1970 Circadian Rhythm K Ogata 1973–1978 Central and Peripheral Adaptation to Temperature K Ohara 1979–1981 Process of Adaptation to Heat and Cold T Nakayama 1982–1984 Regulatory Mechanisms of Body Temperature N Murakami 1986–1988 Heat Adaptation of the aged T Ogawa 1988–1989 The Role of Bioactive Substances in Adaptation T Hori 1990–1992 Analysis of Adaptation System T Morimoto 1992–1994 Analysis of Factors to Modify Temperature Sensitivity M Kosaka 1995–1998 Analysis of Sweating Mechanism during Heat Acclimatization M Kosaka animals to maintain cutaneous blood In 1960, his students edited a book generation of Japanese physiologists in this flow, avoiding adrenergic vaso- titled Essential Problems in Climatic Physiol- field. In Table 2, Japanese physiologists in constriction. ogy3 as a tribute to Prof. Yas Kuno in cele- this field are listed: Dr. Kuno’s students In addition to these research activi- bration of his 77th birthday. This book who formed the first generation are listed ties, as a member of the Science Coun- covered “Physiological Responses to Heat” in the first line, and the second and third cil of Japan, he presented a proposal to by S Itoh, “Physiological Responses to generations are shown in the lower cases. the Japanese Government for the pro- Cold” by K Ogata, and “Acclimatization motion of cooperative research activities to Heat and Cold,” including seasonal in various fields, and the Ministry of change in body fluid by H Yoshimura. Education therefore organized a funding “Problems Related to Thermal Regulation” system for cooperative scientific research were also dealt with, which included skin groups. Cooperative research activities temperature, morphology of sweat glands, summarized in Table 1 were supported sex differences in sweating, axon-reflex by the Ministry of Education, which sweating, shivering, the mechanism of contributed to the progress of research hemi-hidrotic sweating, heat stroke, and activities of this field over an extended the treatment of frostbite. Figure 1 is a time period. photo of Dr. Kuno from this book. The Japanese Journal of Physiology In 1972, a book titled Advances in Cli- (renamed as the Journal of Physiological matic Physiology4 was edited by his stu- Science in 2006) was founded by dents in celebration of his 88th birthday, Dr. Kuno in 1951, which he edited and including contributions by Drs EF published until 1970, when its publication Adolph, J Achoff, DB Dill, OG Edholm, was handed over to the Physiological Soci- F Halberg, JD Hardy, SM Horvath, F ety of Japan. In recognition of his brilliant Sargent, E Simon, M Smolensky, R Tha- work, the Japanese Government awarded uer, as well as contributions by the second Dr. Kuno with the Academy Prize in and third generations of Japanese physiol- 1941, followed by the highest decoration ogists in this field. in the field of cultural achievements, the Dr. Kuno passed away on December Order of Cultural Merits in 1963 and the 30, 1977, and his contributions to the Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1976. He physiology of human perspiration stimu- was appointed as a member of the Japan lated the development of thermal and envi- Academy in 1949 and also received honor- ronmental physiology in Japan—in which Figure 1. Yas Kuno. The phot is from the book ary memberships in the Physiological Soci- his coworkers and pupils, including H “Essential Probles in Climatic. Physiology: A ety of Great Britain, the American Yoshimura, K Ogata, S Itoh, K Ohara, K Tribute