Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide maintains neonatal breathing but not metabolism during mild reductions in ambient temperature

摘要

THE PRIMARY ROLE OF THE RESPIRATORY Control System is to couple ventilation (Ve) to changes in metabolic rate for the maintenance of blood gases. In small neonatal rodents, a drop in ambient temperature just outside the thermoneutral zone initiates nonshivering thermogenesis and an increase in oxygen consumption (Vo2). Despite this metabolic response, the body temperature of small neonatal rodents continues to fall with ambient temperature, owing to their large surface area-to-volume ratio (28). This causes a potential problem for the neonatal respiratory control system; a fall in body temperature has a suppressive effect on neuronal function, including those involved in the control of breathing [Qio effect: (27, 36, 41)].