Autonomic basis for the rise in brain temperature during paradoxical sleep.
The rise in brain temperature in the rabbit during paradoxical sleep originates in a temperature rise of the cerebral arterial blood. Heat loss from the ear is a major factor in the regulation of arterial blood temperature in the rabbit, and the primary thermal event in paradoxical sleep is a vasoconstriction of the skin of the ear which results in a rise in arterial blood and brain temperatures. These thermal correlates of paradoxical sleep are not present in a cold environment when the ear skin is already maximally vasoconstricted. The persistence of peripheral vasoconstriction during paradoxical sleep in a hot environment suggests a disturbance in autonomic thermoregulatory control.
D000818:Animals; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D001831:Body Temperature; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D011817:Rabbits; D012890:Sleep; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques; D014666:Vasomotor System / Q000502:physiology