Study explores how the brain processes heat information and influences behavior

Thursday, July 5, 2018 - 17:58 in Biology & Nature

Do you pause what you’re doing to put on a sweater because you feel chilly? Do you click the thermostat up a few degrees on a winter day? What about keeping a fan on your desk, or ducking into an air-conditioned room to beat the heat? If so (and, let’s face it, everyone has), then you’ve used sensory information about your environment — the temperature — to alter your behavior. But exactly how the brain processes that information has largely remained a mystery. To shed light on that, a team of researchers led by Martin Haesemeyer, a research associate in the labs of Florian Engert, professor of molecular and cellular biology, and Alexander Schier, the Leo Erikson Life Sciences Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, turned to an unlikely subject: zebrafish. Using whole-brain imaging techniques, Haesemeyer was able to show how sensory neurons innervating the face detect environmental temperature, and how this information...

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