In newborns and adults of a number of species including humans, exposure to acute hypoxemia produces a "regulated" decease in core temperature, the mechanism of which is unknown. Considering that various cortical areas participate in autonomic regulation including thermoregulation, the present experiments were carried out to test the hypothesis that the cerebral cortex plays a role in modulating the regulated decrease in core temperature during acute hypoxemia. This hypothesis was tested by determining the core temperature response to acute hypoxemia in chronically instrumented adult Sprague-Dawley rats before and after cortical spreading depression (i.e., functional decortication) was produced by the local application of potassium chloride to the dura overlying the cerebral hemispheres. There was no effect of cortical spreading depression on baseline core temperature. Core temperature decreased during acute hypoxemia in a similar fashion when the cerebral cortex was intact as well as during functional decortication. Thus our data do not support the hypothesis that the cerebral cortex modulates the regulated decrease in core temperature that occurs in adult rats during acute hypoxemia.