Interaction of central and peripheral factors in physiological temperature regulation

¹ Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

To evaluate the relative importance of central and peripheral factors in physiological temperature regulation, calorimetric measurements of thermal and metabolic responses in the unanesthetized dog to localized heating of the supraoptic and preoptic regions were made at various environmental temperatures. At all temperatures, heating the hypothalamus caused an imbalance in the over-all heat exchange, and lowered core temperature by 0.8°–1.0°C. In a neutral environment, this was effected by a 30–40% depression of the resting rate of heat production. In a cool environment, heating inhibited shivering so that heat production, relative to heat loss, was low. In a warm environment, vigorous panting and vasodilatation were elicited, thereby increasing heat loss. On cessation of heating, shivering occurred in response to the lowered core temperature, but differed in intensity depending upon the peripheral thermal drive. Reapplication of heating suppressed shivering in all cases. From these data some quantitative estimates were made of the sensitivity of the hypothalamic thermoregulatory ‘centers’, and of the interaction and relative contributions of central and peripheral control.

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