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THE EFFECT OF HEATING THE SCROTUM OF THE RAM ON RESPIRATION AND BODY TEMPERATURE
Author(s) -
Waites G. M. H.
Publication year - 1962
Publication title -
quarterly journal of experimental physiology and cognate medical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.925
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1469-445X
pISSN - 0033-5541
DOI - 10.1113/expphysiol.1962.sp001615
Subject(s) - scrotum , respiration , anatomy , materials science , chemistry , medicine
At ambient temperatures of 18 ± 2° C., heating the scrotumn of the fullyfleeced ram to above 36° C. evoked a polypnœa which immediately stopped when the scrotum was cooled again. Only small increases of respiratory rate occurred when an identical area of flank skin was similarly heated. The responses to heating the scrotum started before intra‐carotid temperatures changed and were maintained despite falls in deep body temperature of up to 2·2° C. Deneirvation of the scrotum abolished the reflex. When rams were shorn and flank skin temperatures were in the range 30·0‐34·3° C., the rams no longer panted when the scrotum was heated. A second, unidentified channel of heat loss was then evoked and body temperature again fell.