Hypothalamic Neuromodulation of Hypothermia in Domestic Animals

When an organism detects decreases in their core body temperature, the hypothalamus, the main thermoregulatory center, triggers compensatory responses. These responses include vasomotor changes to prevent heat loss and physiological mechanisms (e.g., shivering and non-shivering thermogenesis) for heat production. Both types of changes require the participation of peripheral thermoreceptors, afferent signaling to the spinal cord and hypothalamus, and efferent pathways to motor and/or sympathetic neurons. The present review aims to analyze the scientific evidence of the hypothalamic control of hypothermia and the central and peripheral changes that are triggered in domestic animals.

Quantification of catecholamine neurotransmitters released from cutaneous vasoconstrictor nerve endings in men with cervical spinal cord injury

Control of cutaneous circulation is critically important to maintain thermoregulation, especially in individuals with cervical spinal cord injury (CSCI) who have no or less central thermoregulatory drive. However, the peripheral vasoconstrictor mechanism and capability have not been fully investigated after CSCI. Post- and presynaptic sensitivities of the cutaneous vasoconstrictor system were investigated in 8 CSCI and 7 sedentary able-bodied (AB) men using an intradermal microdialysis technique. Eight doses of norepinephrine (NE, 10^-8 to 10^-1 M) and five doses of tyramine (TY, 10^-8, 10^-5 to 10^-2 M) were administered into the anterior right and left thigh, respectively. Endogenous catecholamines, noradrenaline, and dopamine, collected at the TY site, were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. Regardless of vasoconstrictor agents, cutaneous vascular conductance decreased dose-dependently and responsiveness was similar between the groups (NE: Group P = 0.255, Dose P = 0.014; TY: Group P = 0.468, Dose P < 0.001), whereas the highest dose of each drug induced cutaneous vasodilation. Administration of TY promoted the release of noradrenaline and dopamine in both groups. Notably, the amount of noradrenaline released was similar between the groups (P = 0.819), although the concentration of dopamine was significantly greater in individuals with CSCI than in AB individuals (P = 0.004). These results suggest that both vasoconstrictor responsiveness and neural functions are maintained after CSCI, and dopamine in the skin is likely to induce cutaneous vasodilation.

Central control of body temperature

Central neural circuits orchestrate the behavioral and autonomic repertoire that maintains body temperature during environmental temperature challenges and alters body temperature during the inflammatory response and behavioral states and in response to declining energy homeostasis. This review summarizes the central nervous system circuit mechanisms controlling the principal thermoeffectors for body temperature regulation: cutaneous vasoconstriction regulating heat loss and shivering and brown adipose tissue for thermogenesis. The activation of these thermoeffectors is regulated by parallel but distinct efferent pathways within the central nervous system that share a common peripheral thermal sensory input. The model for the neural circuit mechanism underlying central thermoregulatory control provides a useful platform for further understanding of the functional organization of central thermoregulation, for elucidating the hypothalamic circuitry and neurotransmitters involved in body temperature regulation, and for the discovery of novel therapeutic approaches to modulating body temperature and energy homeostasis.

Attenuated cold defense responses in orexin neuron-ablated rats

Recent reports of the use of transgenic mice targeting orexin neurons show that the ablation of orexin neurons in the hypothalamus causes hypothermia during cold exposure. This suggests the importance of orexin neurons for cold-induced autonomic and physiological defense responses, including brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis and vasoconstriction in thermoregulatory cutaneous vascular bed. The present study investigated whether the ablation of orexin neurons attenuated cold-elicited BAT thermogenesis and cutaneous vasoconstriction. The study took advantage of our established conscious rat experimental model of direct measurement of BAT and body temperature and tail cutaneous blood flow. The study used transgenic orexin neurons-ablated (ORX-AB) rats and wild type (WT) rats. BAT temperature and tail artery blood flow with pre-implanted probes were measured, as well as behavioral locomotor activity under conscious free-moving condition. Gradually, the ambient temperature was decreased to below 5°C. ORX-AB rats showed an attenuated cold-induced BAT thermogenesis and behavioral activity, and delayed tail vasoconstriction. An ambient temperature that initiated BAT thermogenesis and established full cutaneous vasoconstriction was 14.1 ± 1.9 °C, which was significantly lower than 20.5 ± 1.9 °C, the corresponding value in WT rats (n = 10, P < 0.01). The results from this study suggest that the integrity of orexin-synthesising neurons in thermoregulatory networks is important for full expression of the cold defense responses.

Control of cutaneous blood flow by central nervous system

Hairless skin acts as a heat exchanger between body and environment, and thus greatly contributes to body temperature regulation by changing blood flow to the skin (cutaneous) vascular bed during physiological responses such as cold- or warm-defense and fever. Cutaneous blood flow is also affected by alerting state; we 'go pale with fright'. The rabbit ear pinna and the rat tail have hairless skin, and thus provide animal models for investigating central pathway regulating blood flow to cutaneous vascular beds. Cutaneous blood flow is controlled by the centrally regulated sympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic premotor neurons in the medullary raphé in the lower brain stem are labeled at early stage after injection of trans-synaptic viral tracer into skin wall of the rat tail. Inactivation of these neurons abolishes cutaneous vasomotor changes evoked as part of thermoregulatory, febrile or psychological responses, indicating that the medullary raphé is a common final pathway to cutaneous sympathetic outflow, receiving neural inputs from upstream nuclei such as the preoptic area, hypothalamic nuclei and the midbrain. Summarizing evidences from rats and rabbits studies in the last 2 decades, we will review our current understanding of the central pathways mediating cutaneous vasomotor control.

Do peripheral and/or central chemoreflexes influence skin blood flow in humans?

Voluntary apnea activates the central and peripheral chemoreceptors, leading to a rise in sympathetic nerve activity and limb vasoconstriction (i.e., brachial blood flow velocity and forearm cutaneous vascular conductance decrease to a similar extent). Whether peripheral and/or central chemoreceptors contribute to the cutaneous vasoconstrictor response remains unknown. We performed three separate experiments in healthy young men to test the following three hypotheses. First, inhibition of peripheral chemoreceptors with brief hyperoxia inhalation (100% O2) would attenuate the cutaneous vasoconstrictor response to voluntary apnea. Second, activation of the peripheral chemoreceptors with 5 min of hypoxia (10% O2, 90% N2) would augment the cutaneous vasoconstrictor response to voluntary apnea. Third, activation of the central chemoreceptors with 5 min of hypercapnia (7% CO2, 30% O2, 63% N2) would have no influence on cutaneous responses to voluntary apnea. Studies were performed in the supine posture with skin temperature maintained at thermoneutral levels. Beat-by-beat blood pressure, heart rate, brachial blood flow velocity, and cutaneous vascular conductance were measured and changes from baseline were compared between treatments. Relative to room air, hyperoxia attenuated the vasoconstrictor response to voluntary apnea in both muscle (-16 ± 10 vs. -40 ± 12%, P = 0.023) and skin (-14 ± 6 vs. -24 ± 5%, P = 0.033). Neither hypoxia nor hypercapnia had significant effects on cutaneous responses to apnea. These data indicate that skin blood flow is controlled by the peripheral chemoreceptors but not the central chemoreceptors.