Patients undergo interventions to achieve a ‘normal’ brain temperature; a parameter that remains undefined for humans. The profound sensitivity of neuronal function to temperature implies the brain should be isothermal, but observations from patients and non-human primates suggest significant spatiotemporal variation. We aimed to determine the clinical relevance of brain temperature in patients by establishing how much it varies in healthy adults.

We retrospectively screened data for all patients recruited to the Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in Traumatic Brain Injury (CENTER-TBI) High Resolution Intensive Care Unit Sub-Study. Only patients with direct brain temperature measurements and without targeted temperature management were included. To interpret patient analyses, we prospectively recruited 40 healthy adults (20 males, 20 females, 20–40 years) for brain thermometry using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Participants were scanned in the morning, afternoon, and late evening of a single day.

In patients (n = 114), brain temperature ranged from 32.6 to 42.3°C and mean brain temperature (38.5 ± 0.8°C) exceeded body temperature (37.5 ± 0.5°C, P 0.0001). Of 100 patients eligible for brain temperature rhythm analysis, 25 displayed a daily rhythm, and the brain temperature range decreased in older patients (P = 0.018). In healthy participants, brain temperature ranged from 36.1 to 40.9°C; mean brain temperature (38.5 ± 0.4°C) exceeded oral temperature (36.0 ± 0.5°C) and was 0.36°C higher in luteal females relative to follicular females and males (P = 0.0006 and P 0.0001, respectively). Temperature increased with age, most notably in deep brain regions (0.6°C over 20 years, P = 0.0002), and varied spatially by 2.41 ± 0.46°C with highest temperatures in the thalamus. Brain temperature varied by time of day, especially in deep regions (0.86°C, P = 0.0001), and was lowest at night. From the healthy data we built HEATWAVE—a 4D map of human brain temperature.

The Neuro-Network.

𝐃𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧’𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬

𝘼 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙏𝙚𝙡 𝘼𝙫𝙞𝙫 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙢𝙖… See more.

A new discovery from Tel Aviv University may provide a key to a great scientific enigma: How does the awake brain transform sensory input into a conscious experience? The groundbreaking study relied on data collected from electrodes implanted, for medical purposes, deep in the human brain. The information was utilized to examine differences between the response of the cerebral cortex to sounds in sleep vs. wakefulness, at a resolution of single neurons.

The cancer vaccine project is the latest indication of Amazon’s growing interest in the healthcare sector.

Distinct neuron types in the auditory organ are necessary for encoding different features of sound and relaying them to the brain. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet provide evidence of an early, neuronal activity-independent, emergence of the different subtypes of auditory neurons, prior to birth in mice. The findings have recently been published in Nature Communications.