Central nervous system thermoregulation

Hydroxy tryptamine, or serotonin, is a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS). The nerve-cell bodies of the major serotoninergic neurones are in the midline raphe nuclei of the rostral pons, and ascending fibers innervate the basal ganglia, hypothalamus, thalamus, hippocampus, limbic forebrain, and areas of the cerebral cortex. The serotoninergic system plays an important role in the control of mood and behavior, motor activity, hunger, thermoregulation, sleep, certain hallucinatory states, and some neuro-endocrine mechanisms. 

The serotonergic neuronal system is one of the most extensive in the central nervous system. The cell bodies of this system are clustered in approximately 10 groups known as Raphe nuclei in the midbrain and lower brain stem. Nevertheless, the axons and terminals permeate every major brain region and the neurons functionally subserve a variety of physiologic functions, including food and water intake, sexual activity, sleep thermoregulation, regressiveness, and blood pressure control. 

The endogenous opioids are another family of peptides involved in different physiological processes including pain regulation, respiratory control, stress responses, appetite, thermoregulation, and humoral and cellular immune function (Bodnar RJ., 2008). Opioids act through their receptors, which are also members of the GPCR family, and are expressed in the central and peripheral nervous system as well as on cells of the immune system (Henriksen and Willoch 2008 Hauser... 

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