Alteration of peripheral nerve function in the rat after prolonged outdoor cold exposure

¹ Arctic Health Research Center, P. O. Box 960, Anchorage, Alaska

Electrical characteristics of in vitro preparations of the ventral tail nerve were compared in rats exposed for 6 months to outdoor winter cold and control rats kept indoors at 24 C. Determinations of conduction velocity, excitability, and action potential height demonstrated changes in nerve function following outdoor cold exposure. Differences between nerves of outdoor and indoor rats were greatest at higher nerve temperatures (35 C), becoming less at lower temperatures, until no differences were present at 5 C. Conduction velocity showed the greatest changes with cold exposure. Excitability changes could only be demonstrated with stimulus durations less than .1 msec. No differences in absolutely refractory period were seen between cold-exposed and control rats. In general, changes that occurred with cold exposure resulted only in a decrease in the functions examined. The results show that changes in peripheral nerve function can occur in nonhibernating mammals following prolonged exposure to climatic cold, but that these changes are not necessarily of an adaptive nature.

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