Abstract
There are populations of neurones in the rat hypothalamus which respond to changes in scrotal skin temperature. These neurones are thought to be involved not only in temperature regulation, but also in the autonomic arousal system (1). Their response is characteristically discontinuous.Raising the scrotal skin temperature above a threshold value of between 33 and 37°C causes an abrupt increase (or, occasionally, decrease) in firing rate to a new steady level (1,2). Furthermore the pattern of firing alters from bursting to more regular (3). Preliminary results indicate that the activity of the neurones is modulated by 5-hydroxytryptamine, but that this is probably not the primary transmitter (4). The experiments described here were performed to determine whether an excitatory amino-acid transmitter could also be involved, acting through the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) or non-NMDA receptors (5), as may be the case in the thalamus (6,7).
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© 1994 Birkhäuser Verlag Basel
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Taylor, D.C.M., Gayton, R.J., Cross, N.P., Miley, H.E., Parton, M.J. (1994). Excitatory Amino-Acid Effects on Rat Hypothalamic Neurones which Respond to Changes in Scrotal Skin Temperature. In: Zeisberger, E., Schönbaum, E., Lomax, P. (eds) Thermal Balance in Health and Disease. APS Advances in Pharmacological Sciences. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7429-8_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7429-8_7
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