Age-related decline in cold tolerance can be retarded by brain stimulation.
The sharp decline in capacity of old C57BL/6J male mice to maintain body temperature during 3-hr cold exposure can be delayed and even partly restored after 15, 30-min, daily sessions of hypothalamic self-stimulation. In control experiments it was demonstrated that electrical stimulation of "rewarding" areas of hypothalamus itself is sufficient for improvement of the age-related deterioration of thermoregulatory ability.
D000064:Acclimatization; D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003080:Cold Temperature; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D012653:Self Stimulation / Q000502:physiology