[Thermal interhemispheric asymmetry of the brain in rats in a cataleptic state]

The rat brain thermal fields were studied using the thermoencephaloscopic technique in three experimental conditions: the genetic catalepsy (GC rat strain), cataleptic phase of an audiogenic epileptic seizure (Krushinskiĭ-Molodkina strain), and pharmacological catalepsy produced by haloperidol injection (Wistar rats). Irrespective of the experimental conditions, the state of catalepsy, accompanied by a decrease in the muscle tone and inhibition of motor reactions, was characterized by total asymmetric cooling of the brain cortex with the dominance of the right hemisphere. Temperature difference between the parieto-occipital areas of the right and left hemispheres reached 0.3-0.6 degree C.