Thermoregulation

Most body organs are efficient at a stable, defined temperature. Severe deviations from this temperature can be a sign of extreme conditions or pathology and can lead to tissue damage.  To maintain homeostasis heat input and output should be carefully regulated. The external environment has a large variety of temperatures. for a balanced, steady state body temperature, input is equal to output (Figure 1).

Figure 1
Heat loss balancing heat inpupt from internal production and gain from the external environment can occur through different methods (Figure 2).

Figure 2
The hypothalamus is the central regulator of thermoregulation (Figure 3). It adjusts heat production and loss to regulate temperature though negative feedback. Peripheral thermoreceptors in the skin detect changes in skin temperature from the external environment.and central thermoreceptors detect core temperatures. These communicate with the hypothalamic centres for thermoregulation to cause behavioural changes, skeletal muscle activity, smooth muscle vasodilation and constriction and sweating.

Figure 3

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