Thermoregulation And Homeostasis

Thermoregulation has a significant role in regulation of homeostasis. Nevertheless, its heat production and heat conservation mechanisms of major thermoreceptors are unknown. In response to cooling, temperature (core and oral temperature, skin temperature), cardiovascular (blood pressure, heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, total peripheral resistance, mean arterial pressure) and respiratory (minute ventilation, respiratory rate, oxygen consumption, metabolic rate and tidal volume) systems’ parameters are measured when we keep our subjects exposing to cold environmental temperature. Furthermore, to determine the dominant thermoreceptor when perceiving conflicting information, these temperature and cardiovascular parameters are measured repeatedly. Our studies showed that in response to cooling, core temperature was relatively constant. However, skin temperature dropped substantially due to vasoconstriction feedback.

Importantly, metabolic rate increased probably could raise more shivering and nonshivering thermogenesis for heat production. Thus, vasoconstriction heat production and metabolism thermogenesis are the potential mechanisms in response to cooling in humans by activating peripheral and central thermoreceptors and stimulating sympathetic and somatic neuron pathways. However, in our extra test, we found that although the conflicting information perceived by warming one hand in cooling still increased finger temperature, the total peripheral resistance has the significant increase overall. It indicates vasoconstriction has the greater effect. And other parameters had no significant change. Therefore, we concluded that Central thermoreceptor overrides the peripheral when conflicting information is