Control of panting in the desert iguana: Roles for peripheral temperatures and the effect of dehydration

Although it is generally held that panting is a physiological mechanism for the regulation of brain temperature during heat stress, a number of studies have pointed to the importance of peripheral input for the initiation of the panting response in a variety of animals. By presenting ambient heat loads of 47°, 54°, 58°, and 65°C, and measuring skin, ear and core temperatures of the desert iguana, Dipsosaurus dorsalis, at the onset of panting, we found that the skin temperature at panting onset was independent of ambient heat load. This suggests that skin (peripheral) temperature is the body temperature on which the central thermoregulatory center cues to initiate thermal panting. Peripheral temperature control of panting was retained when the plasma osmolality of the desert iguana was increased by 100 mOsm/kg H₂O to simulate dehydration. Dehydration to 80% initial body weight (IBW) resulted in a progressive increase in panting threshold (skin) from 42°C for untreated lizards to 42.5°C at 90% IBW to 43.3°C at 80% IBW. Injection of 80% IBW lizards with a volume of 10 mM NaCl equivalent to weight loss resulted in a decrease in panting threshold to 40.8°C. Injection with 1% body weight 3000 mM NaCl produced a dramatic increase in panting threshold to 45.9°C. These data suggest that the desert iguana responds to dehydration by elevating panting threshold, thus promoting water conservation. These data also suggest that changes in plasma osmolality may be involved in the “setting” of panting threshold.