Responses of cold- and warm-adapted dogs to infused norepinephrine and acute body cooling

¹ Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky

Oxygen consumption, heart rate, and colonic, pinna, and paw temperatures were recorded continuously in warm-adapted (W-A) and cold-adapted (C-A) dogs anesthetized with pentobarbital sodium (30 mg/kg), paralyzed with Flaxedil (5 mg/kg per hr), and mechanically ventilated. The dogs were infused with norepinephrine (1.25 µg/kg per min) for 20 min at 30 C and after 45 min of acute cold exposure to 5 C. Oxygen consumption of C-A dogs increased with a slight increase in the heart rate during the initial 18–20 min of body cooling. O₂ consumption decreased continuously during cold exposure in W-A dogs. Calorigenic effects of infused noradrenaline were similar in C-A and W-A dogs at 30 C and 5 C. Heart rate increased in W-A dogs at 30 and 5 C. These results show that nonshivering thermogenesis is well developed by cold acclimation in dogs, and suggest that the increase may be due to an increase in noradrenaline in blood rather than to increased sensitivity of the animals to the calorigenic effects of noradrenaline.

Key Words: calorigenic response • heart rate and norepinephrine • oxygen consumption • cold adaptation in dogs

Submitted on October 16, 1964