Afferent initiation of shivering

Abstract

The activation of shivering was investigated in 30 lightly Nembutalized dogs by surface cooling of the left rear leg amputated at the hip, excepting the bone, the femoral and sciatic-peroneal nerves and the femoral artery and vein. The onset of shivering, although variable, was evidently not dependent on afferent impulses returning from the cooled leg because nerve section before or during cooling did not affect its occurrence; whereas it appeared to be dependent on an effect of the cooled blood entering the truncal circulation because occluding the femoral vessels abolished shivering. There was not any apparent relation of the onset of shivering to deep body, mean skin and/or brain temperatures. The locus of action of the cooled blood in initiating shivering remained undetermined.