Thermoregulatory behaviour after repetitive cooling of the preoptic area and of the spinal cord in the rat

Abstract

The thermoregulatory behaviour of 6 rats was studied during exposure to cold and warm ambient temperatures after either the preoptic area or the cervical spinal cord had been intermittently cooled for an average of 130 h. The precooled animals worked more for heat in cold environments and less for cool air in a warm environment than the control animals. This behaviour, probably due to a decreased ability of the precooled animals to retain heat, suggests that the precooled animals were not fully adapted to cold.