The Physiology of Mammalian Temperature Homeostasis

Preface Mammalian temperature regulation has been the subject of scientific investigation since the advent of thermometers that could be inserted into an orifice of the body. Thousands of research articles, review articles, and book chapters have been written on the subject. A substantial portion of the Handbooks of Physiology Section 4: Environmental Physiology (American Physiological Society, 1996) deals with temperature regulation and is a comprehensive reference resource. Several more condensed detailed monographs of mammalian thermoregulation have also been published (e.g., Clark and Edholm, 1985; Gordon, 1993; Jessen 2000) and every animal physiology and medical physiology textbook has a section dedicated to temperature (e.g., Guyton and Hall, 2000; Schmidt-Nielson, 1997), as do most college general biology textbooks (e.g., Purves et al., 2003). This current monograph is a focused, concise description of mammalian temperature regulation as it relates to temperature management of humans in emergency medical situations. Unless specifically referenced, the materials presented here have been compiled from the general reference sources listed above.