Journal of PhysiologyIdentification of the different 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptor subtypes has facilitated our understanding of the contribution of 5-HT to the regulation of body temperature. Activation of 5-HT 1A receptors decreases body temperature (Hjorth, 1985;Gudelsky et al. 1986;Cryan et al. 1999). Activation of 5-HT 2A receptors increases body temperature (Gudelsky et al. 1986;Löscher et al. 1990;Mazzola-Pomietto et al. 1995). However, the relevant neuroanatomical pathways and underlying neurotransmitter mechanisms mediating these effects remain to be elucidated. The task is especially complicated because 5-HT alters so many psychological, behavioural and physiological variables (Barnes & Sharp, 1999). Pharmacological and physiological studies of the mechanisms underlying the temperature effects of agents acting at 5-HT 1A receptors often focus on body temperature per se, without determining the relative contributions of heat production and/or heat loss to the temperature equation.Similar considerations apply to neuroanatomical studies. Interest in the role of 5-HT in temperature control has focused on upper brainstem and forebrain 5-HT-innervated regions. Much less attention has been paid to possible contributions of the thermoregulatory role of 5-HT via regulation of heat exchange with the environment through the cutaneous circulation, i.e. on heat dissipation rather than heat production. Even when temperature studies have focused on 5-HT neurons in the medullary raphe region, interpretation of the results has emphasized possible ascending projections of the cells (Dickenson, 1977;Berner et al. 1999), rather than descending projections to cutaneous sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the spinal cord. Central neuroanatomical organization of the descending central control of the cutaneous circulation includes a brainstem relay in raphe magnus/pallidus and the parapyramidal region of the medulla oblongata (Blessing & Nalivaiko, 2000;Nalivaiko & Blessing, 2001;Tanaka et al. 2002). Neurons in this medullary region include the B1-B3 bulbospinal cells that synthesize 5-HT (Loewy, 1981;Steinbusch, 1981;Skagerberg & Bjorklund, 1985;Nicholas et al. 1992). Transneuronal intra-axonal tracing experiments in rats show that 5-HT neurons are amongst