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Phylogeny of Fever

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Thermoreception and Temperature Regulation

Abstract

Fever as a condition of increased body heat associated with disease in humans has been known since Antiquity, but the notion that there is a physiological thermostat, which is reset during fever is generally attributed to Liebermeister (1875). Fever, being a long recognized symptom in human disease, has been studied mostly in humans and in other endothermic vertebrates (DuBois 1948; Atkins and Bodel 1979). The capacity to regulate body temperature, however, is not limited to endothermic mammals and birds. That reptiles can modify their core temperature by several degrees through behavioral means has been known since the beginning of this century (Krehl and Soetbeer 1899; Langlois 1902) but it has been shown only quite recently (Vaughan et al. 1974) that an ectothermic reptile, Dipsosaurus dorsalis, will select a warmer environment after being injected with pyrogens, and thereby raise its body temperature. This was then shown to occur also in fish (Reynolds et al. 1976). In febrile humans (Cabanac 1969; Guieu and Hellon 1980) and dogs (Cabanac et al. 1970) changes in behavior are likewise used to reduce heat loss, and thereby to defend an elevated thermoregulatory set-point.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University, Quebec City, G1K 7P4, Canada

    M. Cabanac

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  1. M. Cabanac
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  1. Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Research, Babraham Hall, Cambridge, CB2 4AT, UK

    J. Bligh

  2. FB Humanmedizin Institut für Normale und Pathologische Physiologie, Phillips Universität, Deutschhausstraße 2, 3550, Marburg, Germany

    K. Voigt

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Cabanac, M. (1990). Phylogeny of Fever. In: Bligh, J., Voigt, K., Braun, H.A., Brück, K., Heldmaier, G. (eds) Thermoreception and Temperature Regulation. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75076-2_27

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75076-2_27

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