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Related Experiment Video

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A Temperature Gradient Assay to Determine Thermal Preferences of Drosophila Larvae

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Published on: June 25, 2018

Parallel preoptic pathways for thermoregulation.

Kyoko Yoshida¹, Xiaodong Li, Georgina Cano

¹Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience

|September 25, 2009

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers identified hypothalamic pathways that control body temperature during cold exposure. The dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus/dorsal hypothalamic area (DMH/DHA) activates heat conservation, while the median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) and dorsolateral preoptic area (DLPO) inhibit this response.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Physiology
Thermoregulation

Background:

Sympathetic premotor neurons in the rostral medullary raphe (RMR) are crucial for regulating body temperature through vasoconstriction and thermogenesis.
The specific neural inputs activating the RMR during cold exposure remain largely unidentified.

Purpose of the Study:

To identify the neural pathways projecting to the RMR that are activated during cold exposure.
To investigate the role of the hypothalamus, specifically the median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) and dorsolateral preoptic area (DLPO), in modulating RMR activity and body temperature.

Main Methods:

Utilized cholera toxin B subunit (CTb) and Fluorogold for retrograde neuronal tracing after injections into the RMR and dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus/dorsal hypothalamic area (DMH/DHA).
Examined Fos expression to identify activated neurons in response to cold exposure.
Performed combined cell-specific lesions of the MnPO and DLPO.

Main Results:

Identified Fos-positive neurons in the DMH/DHA projecting to the RMR, suggesting a role in cold-induced thermogenesis.
Found that MnPO and DLPO neurons projecting to the RMR and DMH/DHA originate from largely separate populations.
Demonstrated that combined lesions of MnPO and DLPO, but not individual lesions, result in baseline hyperthermia.

Conclusions:

The DMH/DHA is a key relay activated during cold exposure to promote heat conservation.
The MnPO and DLPO provide parallel inhibitory pathways that tonically suppress RMR and DMH/DHA activity at baseline.
Hyperthermia during cold exposure necessitates the disinhibition of these pathways from both the MnPO and DLPO.