Mitchell Duncan, Maloney Shane K, Snelling Edward P, Hetem Robyn S, Fuller Andrea
Brain Function Research Group, School of Physiology, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, Johannesburg, South Africa.
School of Human Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2025 Jul;241(7):e70063. doi: 10.1111/apha.70063.
Most experts agree that the dominant mechanism through which body temperature is regulated, under a thermal challenge, environmental or metabolic, is negative feedback control. However, some consider negative feedback to be too sluggish to account for the rapid speed of response. The impression of sluggishness is based on an assumption that the body temperature that is regulated is a core temperature, whereas we concur with those who have concluded that what is regulated is an integrated temperature compiled from inputs from multiple body parts, including the skin. Negative feedback control is supplemented, though, by feedforward control, which is initiated by cues about the predicted magnitude and timing of the thermal challenge. Feedforward control is anticipatory because it can excite thermo-effectors in advance of the thermal challenge impacting on body temperature. Feedforward control is improved by learning but always is supervised by feedback control. There is disagreement about whether the pro-active excitation of thermo-effectors by temperature receptors in the skin occurs by fast feedback control or by feedforward control. We show that skin temperature receptors can provide physiologically meaningful negative feedback within seconds. Both the feedback and the feedforward regulation of integrated body temperature can be modulated by regulation of the temperature of body parts that have special thermoregulatory needs, notably the scrotum.
大多数专家认为，在环境或代谢热刺激下，调节体温的主要机制是负反馈控制。然而，一些人认为负反馈过于迟缓，无法解释快速的反应速度。这种迟缓的印象基于一种假设，即所调节的体温是核心温度，而我们赞同那些得出结论的人，即所调节的是由包括皮肤在内的多个身体部位的输入汇编而成的综合温度。不过，前馈控制对负反馈控制起到了补充作用，前馈控制由关于热刺激的预测强度和时间的线索启动。前馈控制具有预期性，因为它可以在热刺激影响体温之前激发热效应器。前馈控制通过学习得到改善，但始终受反馈控制的监督。关于皮肤中的温度感受器对热效应器的主动激发是通过快速反馈控制还是前馈控制存在分歧。我们表明，皮肤温度感受器可以在几秒钟内提供具有生理意义的负反馈。综合体温的反馈调节和前馈调节都可以通过调节具有特殊体温调节需求的身体部位（尤其是阴囊）的温度来进行调节。
