HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Free Full Text (PDF) Free Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (7) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cabanac, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cabanac, M.

INVITED REVIEW

HIGHLIGHTED TOPICS
A Physiological Systems Approach to Human and Mammalian Thermoregulation

Adjustable set point: to honor Harold T. Hammel

Departement de physiologie, Faculté de medecine, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada

The value of a regulated variable in the absence of external perturbation stabilizes at the set point of the system. This set point is an information input that may be determined by an external signal to which the regulated variable is compared or may be determined by the structural characteristics of the system itself. In the case of temperature regulation the actual internal temperature is compared with the set point "wanted" by the organism. The activating signal for the regulatory responses, the "error signal," is the difference between the actual temperature and the set point. When an error signal is detected, the organism produces the available corrective responses. Yet, the notion of thermoregulatory set point has been challenged recently. Such a questioning entails that both fever and anapyrexia are useless concepts. This minireview examines the available arguments and data and concludes that to abandon the concepts of set point, fever, and anapyrexia is premature, at best.

fever; anapyrexia

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. A. Romanovsky Thermoregulation: some concepts have changed. Functional architecture of the thermoregulatory system Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, January 1, 2007; 292(1): R37 - R46. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. J. Glanville and F. Seebacher Compensation for environmental change by complementary shifts of thermal sensitivity and thermoregulatory behaviour in an ectotherm J. Exp. Biol., December 15, 2006; 209(24): 4869 - 4877. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]