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Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry logoLink to Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry
. 1988 Sep;51(9):1164–1170. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.51.9.1164

The conduction velocities of peripheral nerve fibres conveying sensations of warming and cooling.

C J Fowler 1, K Sitzoglou 1, Z Ali 1, P Halonen 1
PMCID: PMC1033021  PMID: 3225599

Abstract

With the current practice of measuring thresholds for warming and cooling separately, the question of the exact nature of afferents subserving these sensations assumes new importance. Experiments to measure reaction times to warming and cooling stimuli at two sites on the lower limb are described. The conduction velocity for each sensation was estimated from the conduction distance and conduction time in the limb. The estimated mean conduction velocity for warming was 0.5, SD 0.2 m/s and cooling 2.1, SD 0.8 m/s. These figures confirm that the sensation of warming is conveyed in unmyelinated and cooling in small myelinated peripheral nerve fibres.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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