Putative thermal pathways from paw to cortex in mice. (a) Cartoon mouse showing putative thermal pathways from skin to cortex via spinal cord and thalamus, primary somatosensory cortex (S1), secondary somatosensory cortex (S2), and insular cortex (IC). The thermal pathway via lateral parabrachial nucleus to hypothalamus is not included. (b) Schematic cross-sections of mouse nervous system taken at different levels with numbers corresponding to locations in (a). Thermal thalamic input to S1 is provided by ventral posterolateral (VPL) and posterior medial (POm), to S2 by POm and the posterior triangular nucleus (PoT), and IC by PoT.