Hypothalamic thermo-responsive neurones in the new-born rat

1. Single unit activities were recorded from the neurones in the preoptic area and anterior hypothalamus of developing new-born rats (aged 1-24 days old) during thermal stimulation of the brain. During the first 2 weeks of life, about 80% of these neurones had low spontaneous firing rates between 0.1 and 5 impulses/sec at 38 degrees C hypothalamic temperature (Thyp). 2. Out of 640 units studied, 118 units increased the firing rate upon elevation of Thyp (warm-units) and fourteen showed the opposite type of response to temperature changes (cold-units). Warm-units were found in the rats of all the age span studied and cold-units were recorded in the rats more than 8 days old. 3. Thermal coefficients of warm-units and cold-units varied between +0.11 and +2.47 and between -0.10 and -0.49 impulses/sec, degrees C, respectively. Number of warm-units with higher rates of firing and greater thermal coefficients, comparable to those of warm-units in the adult, gradually increased with growth. The thermal responsiveness of warm-units, when expressed by Q10, are already high even in the immediate neonatal period. Their Q10 values were in the range between 2 and 38.5 (mean 6.4). 4. Units responding to extrahypothalamic temperatures were only found in the rats more than 14 days old. 5. All the six warm-units tested increased the firing rates following subcutaneous injections of capsaicin, while the majority of thermo-unresponsive units were not affected by this drug. 6. It is suggested that thermo-responsive neurones in the preoptic area and anterior hypothalamus in the new-born rat have attained some degree of electrophysiological maturity, despite their slowly firing characteristics.