Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology and Cognate Medical Sciences · 1977 · 97 citations · 0 references
Life SciencesNeurobiologyPhysiologyMetabolic RegulationNeuroendocrinologyStress PhysiologyBehavioral PhysiologyHeat StressHeat Stress PhysiologyMetabolic RateTemperature RegulationThermal PhysiologyBehavioral ThermoregulationHeat LossHypothalamic HormonesMetabolic Rate RegulationThermal Stress PhysiologyThermoregulationThermoregulatory BehaviorThermoregulatory Physiology
Various concepts of thermoneutrality were considered for a proposed study of the role of hypothalamic amines in temperature regulation of rats. The classic definition, the ambient temperature over which metabolic rate is minimum and constant, gave a range of approximately 28 to 32 degrees C. However, within this temperature range rats were inactive, the inactivity apparently representing a behavioural response to heat stress and itself responsible for the reduced metabolic rate; certain thermoregulatory effectors were also activated to increase heat loss. Therefore an alternative range, 18.0 +/- 1.9 (mean +/- S.D.) to 28.1 +/- 1.0 degrees C, was defined in which rats displayed normal activity, behavioural thermoregulations being absent.