Question

Topic: Neurobiology

Question: Would you expect temperature changes or neuromodulators to alter the responses of sensory systems? Explain why or why not.

Answer 1

Central neural circuits coordinate a homeostatic repertoire to maintain body temperature During environmental temperature challenges and to alter body temperature During the inflammatory response. The functional organization of the neural pathways through which cutaneous thermal receptors alter thermoregulatory effectors. These effectors are regulated by parallel but distinct, effector-specific neural pathways that share a common peripheral thermal sensory input. The thermal afferent circuits include cutaneous thermal receptors, spinal dorsal horn neurons and lateral parabrachial nucleus neurons projecting to the preoptic area to influence warm-sensitive Inhibitory output neurons, which control thermogenesis-promoting neurons in the dorsomedial hypothalamus that project to premotor neurons in the rostral ventromedial medulla, including the raphe pallidus, that descend to provide the excitation necessary to drive thermogenic thermal effectors. A distinct population of warm-sensitive preoptic neurons controls heat loss through an inhibitory input to raphe pallidus neurons controlling cutaneous vasoconstriction.