Temperature reactions of the cerebral cortex in the rat and the distant effect of an experimentally evoked excitatory focus

: By means of dynamic thermovision method, distant reactions of the cerebral cortex were studied in white rats appearing under local chemical action (2% KCl). Besides the previously described temperature wave SD (T-wave), in these conditions in the contralateral hemisphere local areas of warming up (0.2-0.3 degrees) were observed symmetrical with the place of stimulation. Under local chemical action, latent foci of excitation were revealed on dynamic thermal maps of the brain surface in the areas of the same or contralateral hemisphere, distant from the places of stimulation. During creation of two K+ foci a change was observed of place of T-wave appearance and of the usual order of its propagation over the cortex and also the formation of a focus of prolonged temperature fluctuations in the place of two T-waves meeting. On the basis of the obtained data a number of questions is discussed on the forms and mechanisms of distant effects in the CNS.