Mechanisms for the control of respiratory evaporative heat loss in panting animals

Panting is a controlled increase in respiratory frequency accompanied by a decrease in tidal volume, the purpose of which is to increase ventilation of the upper respiratory tract, preserve alveolar ventilation, and thereby elevate evaporative heat loss. The increased energy cost of panting is offset by reducing the metabolism of nonrespiratory muscles. The panting mechanism tends to be important in smaller mammalian species and in larger species is supplemented by sweating. At elevated respiratory frequencies and body temperatures alveolar hyperventilation begins to develop but is accompanied by a decline in the control of carbon dioxide partial pressure in arterial blood, probably through central chemoreceptors. Most heat exchange takes place at the nasal epithelial lining, and venous drainage can be directed to a special network of arteries at the base of the brain whereby countercurrent heat transfer can occur, which results in selective brain cooling. Such a phenomenon has also been suggested in nonpanting species, including humans, and although originally thought to be a mechanism for protecting the thermally vulnerable brain is now considered to be one of the thermoregulatory reflexes whereby respiratory evaporation can be closely controlled in the interests of thermal homeostasis.