A thermosensory pathway mediating heat-defense responses
Edited by David Julius, University of California, San Francisco, CA, and approved April 6, 2010 (received for review November 19, 2009)
Abstract
Afferent neural transmission of temperature sensation from skin thermoreceptors to the central thermoregulatory system is important for the defense of body temperature against environmental thermal challenges. Here, we report a thermosensory pathway that triggers physiological heat-defense responses to elevated environmental temperature. Using in vivo electrophysiological and anatomical approaches in the rat, we found that neurons in the dorsal part of the lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPBd) glutamatergically transmit cutaneous warm signals from spinal somatosensory neurons directly to the thermoregulatory command center, the preoptic area (POA). Intriguingly, these LPBd neurons are located adjacent to another group of neurons that mediate cutaneous cool signaling to the POA. Functional experiments revealed that this LPBd–POA warm sensory pathway is required to elicit autonomic heat-defense responses, such as cutaneous vasodilation, to skin-warming challenges. These findings provide a fundamental framework for understanding the neural circuitry maintaining thermal homeostasis, which is critical to survive severe environmental temperatures.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants NS40987 and DK57838 (to S.F.M.), by the Special Coordination Fund for Promoting Science and Technology (to K.N.) and Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (21890114 and 22689007) (to K.N.) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, and by the Takeda Science Foundation and Kowa Life Science Foundation (K.N.). K.N. was a JSPS fellow for research abroad.
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Published online: April 26, 2010
Published in issue: May 11, 2010
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants NS40987 and DK57838 (to S.F.M.), by the Special Coordination Fund for Promoting Science and Technology (to K.N.) and Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (21890114 and 22689007) (to K.N.) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, and by the Takeda Science Foundation and Kowa Life Science Foundation (K.N.). K.N. was a JSPS fellow for research abroad.
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*This Direct Submission article had a prearranged editor.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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A thermosensory pathway mediating heat-defense responses, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
107 (19) 8848-8853,
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0913358107
(2010).
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