Hori T
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Jpn J Physiol. 1991;41(1):1-22. doi: 10.2170/jjphysiol.41.1.
TS neurons in the brain, particularly in the POA, play a central role in thermoregulation, based on the good correlations between the activity of TS neurons and the thermoregulatory responses. Such relationships have been observed during (1) thermal (hypothalamic and peripheral) and (2) pharmacological (amines, neuropeptides, cytokines, and exogenous drugs) stimulations, (3) during modulation of neural inputs from extraPOA brain regions, and (4) during actual thermoregulatory responses. In vitro studies utilizing tissue slice preparations and dissociated cellular preparations have revealed some mechanisms of thermal transduction of central TS neurons, which are apparently endowed with the unique characteristics of thermosensitivity. The high degree of convergence of thermal signals from local and remote sites on TS neurons suggests that locally TS neurons in one site of CNS are connected to TS neurons in the other sites, thus forming neural networks of TS neurons within the brain and the spinal cord. The findings that 40-70% of POA TS neurons respond to divergent types of non-thermal homeostatic signals and have abundant mutual connections with divergent areas of brain (limbic system and association cortices) indicate that TS neurons may be involved in the coordination of thermal and non-thermal homeostatic functions controlled in the hypothalamus.
大脑中的热敏神经元，尤其是视前区（POA）的热敏神经元，在体温调节中起着核心作用，这是基于热敏神经元的活动与体温调节反应之间的良好相关性得出的结论。在以下情况中均观察到了这种关系：（1）热刺激（下丘脑和外周）和（2）药理刺激（胺类、神经肽、细胞因子和外源药物）期间；（3）来自视前区外脑区的神经输入受到调制时；以及（4）实际体温调节反应期间。利用组织切片制备物和分离的细胞制备物进行的体外研究揭示了中枢热敏神经元热转导的一些机制，这些神经元显然具有热敏性的独特特征。来自局部和远程部位的热信号在热敏神经元上的高度汇聚表明，中枢神经系统一个部位的局部热敏神经元与其他部位的热敏神经元相连，从而在脑和脊髓内形成热敏神经元神经网络。40%-70%的视前区热敏神经元对不同类型的非热稳态信号产生反应，并与大脑的不同区域（边缘系统和联合皮质）有丰富的相互连接，这些发现表明热敏神经元可能参与下丘脑控制的热稳态和非热稳态功能的协调。
