thirst
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thirst
Thirst
the urge to drink, the physiological state that regulates intake of water into the bodies of animals and humans.
Intensity of thirst is determined by the duration of water deprivation, water losses in urine and perspiration, and the quantity of table salt consumed. In humans thirst is manifested by a sensation of dryness in the mouth and throat. It is conditioned by the thirst center—a set of nerve cells located in various sections of the central nervous system (the hypothalamus, the limbic-reticular system, the cerebral cortex) and associated with complex reflex reactions arising after stimulation of the central and peripheral interoceptors that respond to changes in osmotic pressure and volume of extracellular and intracellular fluids. Usually, the appearance of thirst precedes dehydration of the body, and relief of thirst occurs long before the entry of the water imbibed into the tissues, merely as a result of the act of drinking, the wetting of the mouth and throat, and the distension of the stomach walls. Thirst may also arise during digestion, since during this process water from body tissues enters the lumen of the digestive tract. Considerable intensification of thirst is observed in certain nervous and endocrine diseases, disorders of the water-salt metabolism, changes of the electrolyte con-tent in the blood, and edemas of cardiac origin.
REFERENCES
Kravchinskii, B. D. Fiziologtia vodno-solevogo obmena zhidkostei tela. Leningrad, 1963.Handbook of Physiology. Section 6: Alimentary Canal. Vol. 1: Control of Food and Water Intake. Baltimore, 1967.
V. G. KASSIL’