CNS regulation of metabolic rate in the kangaroo rat Dipodomys ingens.

Water-perfused thermodes were chronically implanted around the preoptic nuclei and hypothalamus (POH) of kangaroo rats (Dipodomys ingens). Responses in rate of metabolic heat production to manipulations of POH temperature (Thy) were measured in unanesthetized, unrestrained animals at ambient temperatures of 10, 20, 25, and 30 degreeC. The threshold Thy and the proportionally constant (alpha) for this response consistently decreased as ambient temperature increased, but alpha was not significantly different between any two Ta's. Average values of alpha for the three animals studied ranged between -.0024 W.g minus 1.degree C minus 1 and -.0034 W.g minus1.degree C minus 1. No influence of extrahypothalamic core temperature on the characteristics of the central nervous system regulatory mechanism was observed. Ahypothesis accounting for high POH and low peripheral thermosensitivities in small mammals is presented. An additional finding was that during sleep there is a profound depression or elimination of POH thermosensitivity in this species.