AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 236, Issue 1 107-R116, Copyright © 1979 by American Physiological Society
Spinal cord, hypothalamic, and air temperature: interaction with arousal states in the marmot
V. M. Miller and F. E. South
Yellow-bellied marmots, Marmota flaviventris, prepared with U-shaped
thermodes in the epidural space of the thoracic vertebral canal, a thermode
in the preoptic hypothalamus, and cortical surface and hippocampal
electrodes, were used to investigate the interaction of arousal states with
temperature regulation. It was found that arousal state of the animal
influences the thermoregulatory responses initiated in either the spinal
cord or hypothalamus. Further, changes in ambient temperature affected both
the gain and the threshold of these responses. The interaction of the
hypothalamus and spinal cord was not an additive function, however the
threshold for shivering of each could be altered by temperature
manipulation of the other. Future studies in modeling of temperature
regulation should consider the contributions of temperature receptors of
the spinal cord and the arousal state of the animal during the stimulation
period.
