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Department of Physiology and Biophysics, The University of Calgary, Health Sciences Centre, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada
Received 6 December 1996; accepted in final form 22 April 1997.
Eliason, Heather L., and James E. Fewell.
Thermoregulatory control during pregnancy and lactation in rats.
J. Appl. Physiol. 83(3): 837-844, 1997.
Although the mechanisms remain unknown, maternal core
temperature (Tc) decreases near
term of pregnancy and is increased throughout lactation in rats. The
purpose of our present experiments was to determine whether pregnancy and lactation shift the thermoneutral zone of rats and to investigate whether the changes in maternal Tc
during pregnancy and lactation result from "forced" or
"regulated" thermoregulatory responses. Conscious, chronically
instrumented nonpregnant and pregnant and lactating rats were studied
both in a thermocline (a chamber with a linear temperature gradient
from 12 to 36°C) and in a metabolic chamber to determine the
influence of pregnancy and lactation on selected ambient temperature as
well as the thermoregulatory response to changes in ambient
temperature. We found that selected ambient temperature, oxygen
consumption, and thermal conductance did not change in rats studied in
a thermocline as Tc decreased near
term of pregnancy. There was, however, a downward shift in the
thermoneutral zone of rats studied in a metabolic chamber near term of
pregnancy. During lactation, selected ambient temperature decreased in
rats studied in a thermocline as oxygen consumption and
Tc increased. The thermoneutral
zone of lactating rats was not different from that of nonpregnant
animals. Thus our data provide evidence that the decrease in
Tc near term of pregnancy in rats
results from a regulated thermoregulatory response,
whereas the increase in Tc during
lactation results from a forced thermoregulatory response.
autonomic thermoregulation; behavioral thermoregulation
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