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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 93/5/2849    most recent 01113.2004v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (7) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by van den Burg, E. H. Articles by Van der Linden, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by van den Burg, E. H. Articles by Van der Linden, A.

Brain Responses to Ambient Temperature Fluctuations in Fish: Reduction of Blood Volume and Initiation of a Whole-Body Stress Response

¹Department of Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and ²Bio-Imaging Lab, Campus Middelheim, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

Submitted 26 October 2004; accepted in final form 17 December 2004

Spatial and temporal ambient temperature variations directly influence cellular biochemistry and thus the physiology of ectotherms. However, many aquatic ectothermic species maintain coordinated sensorimotor function during large acute body-temperature changes, which points to a compensatory mechanism within the neural system. Here we used high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging to study brain responses to a drop of 10°C of ambient water temperature in common carp. We observed a strong drainage of blood out of the brain as of 90 s after the onset of the temperature drop, which would be expected to reduce entry of cold blood arriving from the gills so that the change in brain temperature would be slower. Although oxygen content in the brain thus decreased, we still found specific activation in the preoptic area (involved in temperature detection and stress responses), the pituitary pars distalis (stress response), and inactivation of the anterior part of the midbrain tegmentum and the pituitary pars intermedia. We propose that the blood drainage from the brain slows down the cooling of the brain during an acute temperature drop. This could help to maintain proper brain functioning including sensorimotor activity, initiation of the stress response, and the subsequent behavioral responses.

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