Local response to cold in rat tail after spinal cord transection

Abstract

Subjects with severe chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) are prone to hypothermia when they are exposed to relatively low environmental temperatures that are normally well tolerated by healthy individuals. This impaired thermoregulation is presumably due to disconnection of territories below the SCI from supraspinal thermoregulatory centers. However, it is not known how these territories respond to low temperatures. Using a complete transection at T 11 in rats, we examined the responses of the tail to cold (6-9°C) by measuring changes in tail blood flow and skin temperature weekly for 8 wk after SCI. Despite no significant change in baseline mean flow or temperature in the tail, the transection..