Effect of norepinephrine on the thermosensitive neurons in preoptic area of hypothalamus tissue slices in cold acclimatized rats

In this work, single unit firing activities were recorded in the preoptic anterior hypothalamus (POAH) brain slices of cold acclimatized and room-temperature housed rats (CR and RR) and the effects of NE on the neuronal discharges were observed. The neurons of POAH in CR became much more sensitive to NE than that in RR (the threshold concentration of NE of CR became significantly lowered). In comparison with RR, the percentage of warm sensitive neurons that could be excited by NE was decreased and some of them even showed inhibitory responses. On the other hand, the percentage of cold sensitive neurons that could be inhibited by NE was decreased and some of them even showed excitatory responses. The percentage of thermo-insensitive neurons that could be either excited or inhibited by NE were increased.PubMed06666-704