Research data ยท Pain and nociception

Thermal gradient and temperature preference

From 2021 to 2025, 31 animal research papers mentioned thermal gradient and temperature preference in their title or abstract, ranking it 72nd of the 90 tests we track.

It had 6 papers in 2011 to 2015, too few to compare.

31 animal research papers from 2021 to 2025 mentioned the test
6 papers in 2011 to 2015, too few to compare
72nd of the 90 tests by papers from 2021 to 2025
58% of these papers used mice

Papers by year

Animal research papers that mention thermal gradient and temperature preference, by year, 2001 to 2026

The 2026 bar counts papers added to PubMed by November 8, 2026.

  • Papers in a full year
  • 2026 so far
Show the counts for each year
Papers by year
YearPapers
20010
20020
20031
20040
20053
20060
20070
20081
20090
20106
20110
20121
20130
20142
20153
20164
20172
20184
20190
20206
20214
20226
20237
20249
20255
2026 (part year)8

Papers that mention thermal gradient and temperature preference in mice and in rats, by year, 2001 to 2025

  • Mouse
  • Rat
Show the counts for each year and species
Papers by year, mice and rats
YearMouseRat
200100
200200
200301
200400
200511
200600
200700
200800
200900
201012
201100
201201
201300
201411
201502
201621
201711
201803
201900
202011
202120
202231
202322
202480
202530

Which species the papers used

Each bar is a share of the 31 papers from 2021 to 2025. A paper can use more than one species, so the shares can add to more than 100%.

Species

Mouse
18 papers 58%
Other animals
8 papers 26%
Rat
3 papers 10%
Zebrafish
1 paper 3%
Fruit fly
1 paper 3%

โ€œOther animalsโ€ counts papers that use none of the other species in this chart.

Strains and genetic lines

Strain names come from the MeSH terms PubMed adds when it indexes a paper. PubMed has indexed 28 of the 31 papers, so each bar is a share of those 28.

C57BL mice
6 papers 21%
Knockout mice
2 papers 7%
Wistar rats
1 paper 4%
DBA mice
1 paper 4%

A paper indexed under two of these headings, such as knockout mice and a strain, counts under both.

Disease models these papers study

Each bar counts the papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention thermal gradient and temperature preference and study that disease model, with its share of the 31 papers. The model comes from a paper's MeSH terms. For a paper PubMed has not indexed, it comes from PubTator 3, NCBI's text-mining service, when that service finds the disease in the title or abstract. A paper can count under more than one model.

Papers from 2021 to 2025 by disease model

10 papers 32%
2 papers 6%
1 paper 3%
1 paper 3%

Tests mentioned alongside thermal gradient and temperature preference

Each bar counts the papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention both tests, with its share of the 31 papers that mention thermal gradient and temperature preference.

Papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention both tests

The most cited papers from 2021 to 2025

These papers from 2021 to 2025 mention thermal gradient and temperature preference and have the most citations, as counted by NIH's iCite on November 5, 2026.

  1. Habitat and microclimate affect the resting site selection of mosquitoes.

    Med Vet Entomol, 2021. 25 citations.

  2. Thermal gradient ring reveals different temperature-dependent behaviors in mice lacking thermosensitive TRP channels.

    J Physiol Sci, 2022. 18 citations.

  3. Timing of acute cold exposure determines UCP1 and FGF21 expression - Possible interactions between the thermal environment, thermoregulatory responses, and peripheral clocks.

    J Therm Biol, 2024. 10 citations.

  4. Heat stress survival and thermal tolerance of Australian stingless bees.

    J Therm Biol, 2023. 10 citations.

  5. Thermal gradient ring reveals thermosensory changes in diabetic peripheral neuropathy in mice.

    Sci Rep, 2022. 10 citations.

How we counted

A count is the number of animal research papers whose title or abstract mentions one of the test's search terms. It is not a count of experiments, labs or animals.

A paper that mentions thermal gradient and temperature preference only in its methods is missed, so the count runs low. The count includes 1 review. For 3 of the 31 papers, PubMed's indexing gave no species, so the species came from PubTator 3 finding one in the title or abstract.

The test's search terms are in the test list download. The full method, with each source and its terms of use, is on our main page, Behavioral tests in published research.

More pain and nociception tests

These pain and nociception tests also have a page, with their papers from 2021 to 2025. Each test with 30 or more papers gets one.

How to cite

APA

ConductScience. (2026, November 10). Thermal gradient and temperature preference in published research [Data set]. https://conductscience.com/data/behavioral-tests/thermal-gradient

BibTeX

@misc{conductscience_thermal_gradient_2026,
  author = {{ConductScience}},
  title = {Thermal gradient and temperature preference in published research},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  url = {https://conductscience.com/data/behavioral-tests/thermal-gradient},
  note = {Data set, released November 10, 2026},
}

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