Areas of the brain involved in thirst

Areas of the brain involved in thirst

-By Timothy Lyons

There are many bodily mechanisms and areas of the brain involved in thirst and hunger. The body loses water content through respiration, sweating and secretion of fluid through evacuation. There are two types of thirst to which the body must respond. According to (Carson & Birkett, 2017) there is volumetric and osmometric thirst. Volumetric thirst is the regulation of intracellular and extracellular fluids to maintain proper amounts of water in the system. The body has two types of receptors that measure this thirst, one measures the volume of water in the blood and the other measures the volume of water in the cells.  In most cases there is more water in the body than needed and it is excreted through the kidneys. When this level is too low the receptors kick in and the mechanism of thirst or the need for more water is initiated.

The osmometric thirst is that of the amount of solids such as salt that are added to or are retained in the blood. The organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis (OVLT) and the subfornical organ (SFO) are two Areas of the brain involved in thirst that are located outside of the blood brain barrier that help to measure the amount of solids in the blood. As the amount of particulates remaining in the blood rises a chemical known as angiotensin is produced in the body. The OVLT and the SFO are activated to respond and provide the action of thirst to increase the amount of water that had previously been removed from the blood.

References for Areas of the brain involved in thirst

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