title: Brain temperature and its fundamental properties: a review for clinical neuroscientists.
abstract: Brain temperature, as an independent therapeutic target variable, has received increasingly intense clinical attention. To date, brain hypothermia represents the most potent neuroprotectant in laboratory studies. Although the impact of brain temperature is prevalent in a number of common human diseases including: head trauma, stroke, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, mood disorders, headaches, and neurodegenerative disorders, it is evident and well recognized that the therapeutic application of induced hypothermia is limited to a few highly selected clinical conditions such as cardiac arrest and hypoxic ischemic neonatal encephalopathy. Efforts to understand the fundamental aspects of brain temperature regulation are therefore critical for the development of safe, effective, and pragmatic clinical treatments for patients with brain injuries. Although centrally-mediated mechanisms to maintain a stable body temperature are relatively well established, very little is clinically known about brain temperature's spatial and temporal distribution, its physiological and pathological fluctuations, and the mechanism underlying brain thermal homeostasis. The human brain, a metabolically "expensive" organ with intense heat production, is sensitive to fluctuations in temperature with regards to its functional activity and energy efficiency. In this review, we discuss several critical aspects concerning the fundamental properties of brain temperature from a clinical perspective.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Carle Foundation Hospital, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, USA ; Thermal Neuroscience Laboratory, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Carle Foundation Hospital, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Bonnie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA ; Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Kieran P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Normoyle
authors.affiliation: Thermal Neuroscience Laboratory, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Carle Foundation Hospital, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Spitler
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Sharrock
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA ; Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Claire M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Best
authors.affiliation: Thermal Neuroscience Laboratory, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, USA ; Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Llano
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Rose
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Du
keywords: brain; cerebral blood flow; hyperthermia; hypothermia; temperature