[Change in the activity of sympathetic preganglionic neurons of the lumbar segments of the spinal cord as a result of thermal stimulation of the skin of the abdomen].

The activity of antidromically identified sympathetic preganglionic neurons (SPNs) located in the lateral horn of the L2--L3 spinal cord segments was recorded in anesthetized and immobilized cats. The localization of SPNs with tonic activity and the conduction velocities of their axons were revealed. Two groups of SPNs were shown which increased their firing rates either in cooling or heating of the abdominal skin. Some intermediate neurons possibly conducting thermal information to SPNs, were studied. The data obtained are considered within the limits of segmentary model of the vasomotor thermoregulatory reaction.