Central efferent pathways mediating skin cooling-evoked sympathetic thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue

Kazuhiro Nakamura, Shaun F. Morrison

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

203 Scopus citations

Abstract

Control of thermoregulatory effectors by the autonomic nervous system is a critical component of rapid cold-defense responses, which are triggered by thermal information from the skin. However, the central autonomic mechanism driving thermoregulatory effector responses to skin thermal signals remains to be determined. Here, we examined the involvement of several autonomic brain regions in sympathetic thermogenic responses in brown adipose tissue (BAT) to skin cooling in urethane-chloralose-anesthetized rats by monitoring thermogenic [BAT sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) and BAT temperature], metabolic (expired CO2), and cardiovascular (arterial pressure and heart rate) parameters. Acute skin cooling, which did not reduce either rectal (core) or brain temperature, evoked increases in BAT SNA, BAT temperature, expired CO 2, and heart rate. Skin cooling-evoked thermogenic, metabolic, and heart rate responses were inhibited by bilateral microinjections of bicuculline (GABAA receptor antagonist) into the preoptic area (POA), by bilateral microinjections of muscimol (GABAA receptor agonist) into the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus (DMH), or by microinjection of muscimol, glycine, 8-OH-DPAT (5-HT1A receptor agonist), or kynurenate (nonselective antagonist for ionotropic excitatory amino acid receptors) into the rostral raphe pallidus nucleus (rRPa) but not by bilateral muscimol injections into the lateral/dorsolateral part or ventrolateral part of the caudal periaqueductal gray. These results implicate the POA, DMH, and rRPa in the central efferent pathways for thermogenic, metabolic, and cardiac responses to skin cooling, and suggest that these pathways can be modulated by serotonergic inputs to the medullary raphe.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)R127-R136
JournalAmerican Journal of Physiology - Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology
Volume292
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2007

Keywords

  • Glutamate
  • Serotonin
  • Somatosensory thermal afferent
  • Thermoregulation
  • γ-aminobutyric acid

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physiology
  • Physiology (medical)

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