Christopher J. Gordon

Rodents are the predominant experimental animals found in life-sciences research laboratories. The body temperature of a rodent is markedly affected by surgical, chemical or environmental manipulation. Because temperature regulation is controlled essentially by a 'holistic' regulatory system, meaning that its responses affect the activities of all other psychological and behavioural processes, it is clear that researchers working with rodents must be familiar with thermoregulatory physiology. With the help of extensive data tables and figures, this book explains the key facets of rodent thermal physiology, including neurological control and gender and intraspecies variations. There is a novel chapter on the effects of trauma, toxic chemicals and other factors. The book should therefore find use in government, academic or industrial laboratories whose researchers are working with rodents.

Thermoregulation is vital for survival but the interplay between toxic insults and thermoregulatory mechanisms is often poorly understood. Temperature and Toxicology: An Integrative, Comparative, and Environmental Approach is the first major text to study the integrative thermoregulatory responses of mammals that are exposed to toxicants. Because environmental physiology is also crucial in toxicological responses, this volume also examines the role of environmental temperature in the modulation of cellular mechanisms of toxicity. The book begins by explaining the importance of temperature in toxicological studies, and how all biological processes are dependent on temperature. It then reviews the basics of temperature regulation in homeotherms and poikilotherms, and addresses whole-animal and in vitro studies related to the effects of temperature on toxicity. The text examines thermoregulatory response to toxic insult, and how responses affect recovery and potential survival. It describes hypothermic response in rodents to febrile and hyperthermic reactions in humans, and discusses the relevance of heat and cold stress on human exposures to airborne pollutants and other toxicants. This volume provides an extensive comparison of physiological responses of invertebrates, fish, amphibians, and mammals, and focuses on the impact of endocrine disruption. It then considers how toxicants and thermal stress cause the expression of stress proteins, followed by a study of the impact of genetic variability. The book concludes with an examination of thermoregulatory response to natural toxins and venoms.

Rodents are the predominant experimental animals found in life-sciences research laboratories. The body temperature of a rodent is markedly affected by surgical, chemical or environmental manipulation. Because temperature regulation is controlled essentially by a 'holistic' regulatory system, meaning that its responses affect the activities of all other psychological and behavioural processes, it is clear that researchers working with rodents must be familiar with thermoregulatory physiology. With the help of extensive data tables and figures, this book explains the key facets of rodent thermal physiology, including neurological control and gender and intraspecies variations. There is a novel chapter on the effects of trauma, toxic chemicals and other factors. The book should therefore find use in government, academic or industrial laboratories whose researchers are working with rodents.