Overview of Human Thermoregulation

Abstract

This paper presents a critical summary of present knowledge of human thermoregulation and indicates areas where definitive information is lacking. There are recent comprehensive review articles (1, 2, 3), so we have chosen to cite only representative papers which illustrate the various approaches which have been used in an attempt to elucidate the human thermoregulatory system.Since temperature regulation in the human encompasses a wide range of topics, the following subdivision is suggested as a basis for developing control mechanisms: a. normal short-term control; b. short-term reversible modifications due to fever, exercise, trauma, etc.; c. longer time scale modifying effects, such as hormonal action, adaptation, etc.; d. long-term irreversible neurological modifications. An experimentally confirmed signal-flow diagram for short term control perhaps could be extended to the other three conditions by effecting modifications in set-point, gain, etc.