Unilateral behavioural thermosensitivity after transection of one lateral funiculus in the cervical spinal cord of the cat.

Cats were trained to discriminate temperature increases or decreases with the paws of one body half in a T-maze. The discriminatory proficiency was found to be inferior compared to cats who may use all four paws. The accomplishments of cats discriminating temperature decreases were superior to those of cats discriminating temperature increases. After transection of one lateral funiculus at the fifth cervical segment all of the cats lost the ability to discriminate temperatures with the contralateral paws. No thermosensory deficiency of the ipsilateral paws was observed. Five out of six cats recovered some ability to discriminate temperature differences with the contralateral paws, but no cat regained its preoperative proficiency within more than one and a half years postoperatively. The findings are taken to indicate the existence of more than one spinal, ascending, thermosensory pathway in the cat.