Spinothalamic lamina I neurones selectively responsive to cutaneous warming in cats

1. In order to further characterize the role of lamina I as the source of central ascending neural pathways for thermoreception and thermoregulation, experiments were performed on anaesthetized cats to determine the quantitative response characteristics of warming-specific lumbosacral spinothalamic lamina I neurones. 2. We identified 10 neurones out of 474 that were selectively excited by cutaneous warming (Warm cells). Their thresholds were all in the range 35-37 degrees C at a baseline of 34.5 degrees C, and their discharge linearly encoded the temperature of graded, innocuous warming stimuli with a sensitivity of 2.1 Hz x degrees C(-1). 3. The stimulus-response function of the Warm cells plateaued at temperatures that were in the noxious heat range. 4. The Warm cells were distinguished from other classes of spinothalamic lamina I neurones by their peripheral inputs, central conduction velocities and level of ongoing activity. 5. The discharge of Warm cells compares well with the known human psychophysics of warm sensibility, and these neurones are likely to be crucial to discriminative thermoreception. Additionally, a role in thermoregulation, a defining feature of mammalian homeostasis, is suggested.