Rabbit's ear in cold acclimation studied on the change in ear temperature.
The role of the rabbit's ear in cold acclimation was studied by varying the temperature of a climatic room in the range from -10 to +30 degrees C; The skin temperature in a nonanesthetized rabbit's ear showed a characteristic response to changes in ambient temperatures; plotting the ear temperature against the ambient temperature yielded an S-shaped curve. The mean ambient temperature corresponding to the inflection point on the S-shaped curve shifted significantly from about 13 degrees C to about 8 degrees C after cold acclimated of a group fed for 7 wk at -10 degrees C. The shift of the S-shaped curve after cold acclimation may not be due to the change in the norepinephrine sensitivity of the vascular beds of the ear: the effect of norepinephrine on the pressure-flow curve in the isolated rabbit's ear was almost unchanged between the control and the cold-acclimated groups. It is proposed that the shift of the inflection point gives a qualitative index of the acclimated state of the rabbit at a particular temperature.
D000064:Acclimatization; D000818:Animals; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D001835:Body Weight; D003080:Cold Temperature; D004326:Drinking; D004431:Ear, External / Q000294:innervation; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D008297:Male; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000494:pharmacology; D010477:Perfusion; D011817:Rabbits / Q000502:physiology*; D012119:Respiration; D012881:Skin Temperature; D013997:Time Factors; D014666:Vasomotor System / Q000502:physiology
D009638:Norepinephrine