Human Hypothalamic Homologues to Autonomic Control Centres Identified in Rat and Monkey

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The hypothalamus is a brain structure common to all mammals. Experiments on the rat have shown the hypothalamus to be fundamentally involved in cardiovascular control, fluid and electrolyte balance, food ingestion and energy metabolism, thermoregulatory and immune responses, and defensive-aggressive responses and reproduction. It is virtually impossible to perform functional studies in the human and, therefore, the human hypothalamic regions involved in these functions will be inferred from their structural similarity to the centres identified in the rat. The present project will obtain structural-chemical data on the rat and monkey for the sole purpose of comparing these data with similar data on the human. The parts of the hypothalamus that deal with cardiovascular and other autonomic functions are expected to be similar in the rat and human and the present study will identify in the human all major regions that have been identified in the rat. The correspondence between an area in the rat brain and one in the human brain will be established primarily on the basis of chemical similarity. Corresponding areas tend to feature similar neurotransmitters, enzymes and other neuroactive substances. Some of the chemicals to be investigated are known to have a role in autonomic control. The chemical mapping study then serves two roles: (a) It permits the identification of the chemical profile (signature) of an area and consequently enables its identification in the human, and (b) it reveals the chemicals the area utilizes for possible theoretical and practical considerations. The present study will allow hypotheses derived from experimental work on the rat to be more meaningfully tested on humans. It will assist pathological and imaging investigations of the human brain.