Summary
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1.
The activity of neurons from the anterior part of hypothalamus (AH) of pigeons has been recorded while cooling or warming the skin and/or the spinal cord.
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2.
Both warm-responsive (38) and cold-responsive (13) neurons were found. The neurons changed their impulse frequency rapidly during dynamic stimulation, but no overshoot was observed in any of the cases.
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3.
The slope of static-response curves of AH neurons responsive to spinal warming was low in the temperature range of 30 °C to 40–42 °C and increased steeply between 40–42 °C. The impulse frequency of AH neurons responsive to spinal cooling decreased in the temperature range of 30–43 °C. The slope of the static-response curves varied in the same temperature range. The activity of these units ceased when spinal temperature reached 42 °C to 45 °C.
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4.
Two types of AH neurons responding to stimulation of both skin and spinal cord could be distinguished: Type I was excited by warming and type II by cooling both skin and spinal cord.
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Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 114)
The author thanks Prof. H.C. Heller, Dr. R. Necker and Prof. W. Rautenberg for critically reading the manuscript and Mrs. M. Meinecke for her dedicated assistance throughout this project.
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Rosner, G. The influence of thermal stimulation of the spinal cord and skin on the activity of hypothalamic units. J. Comp. Physiol. 126, 151–156 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00666368
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00666368