Noxious and innocuous mechanical cutaneous stimulation increase the sympathetic efferent nerve activity innervating the interscapular brown adipose tissue in anesthetized rats.
Effects of pinching and brushing of the various segmental skin areas (face, ear, neck, forelimb, chest, abdomen, hindlimb) on the activities of the sympathetic efferent nerve innervating the interscapular brown adipose tissue (IBAT) and contributing to its thermogenesis were examined in anesthetized rats. Pinching the face, ear, neck, or forelimb produced significant reflex increases in the efferent nerve activities, whereas pinching the chest, abdomen, or hindlimb did not produce any significant responses. In the case of brushing stimulation, only the stimulation of the ear produced significant increases. These results demonstrated that cutaneous mechanical stimulations at cranial, cervical, and upper thoracic segments were effective in producing reflex increases in the activities of the IBAT sympathetic nerve and that noxious stimulation was more dominant for eliciting the reflex responses.
Kurosawa
M
M
1st Department of Physiology, Nara Medical College, Japan.
Niijima
A
A
D002001:Adipose Tissue, Brown / Q000294:innervation*; D000758:Anesthesia; D000818:Animals; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D010146:Pain; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*