AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 255, Issue 1 73-R81, Copyright © 1988 by American Physiological Society

ARTICLES

Physiological changes during thermoregulation and fever in urethan-anesthetized rats

T. J. Malkinson, K. E. Cooper and W. L. Veale
Department of Medical Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Adult male Wistar rats were anesthetized with urethan (1.5 g/kg). They were unable to maintain body temperature (Tb) in a warm (32 degrees C) or cool (9 degrees C) environment or at a laboratory room temperature of 22 degrees C. Tb was allowed to fall to 35.8, 34.5, or 33.3 degrees C, and prostaglandin E1 (PGE1, 400 ng) was delivered into a lateral cerebral ventricle. An immediate feverlike rise in Tb resulted, accompanied by vigorous shivering. Animals were vasoconstricted throughout. When Tb was raised to and maintained at 38.3 or 39.5 degrees C, animals also responded with a fever; however, the magnitude of the fever diminished as the starting Tb increased. In a series of experiments in which Tb was maintained (36.8-37.4 degrees C) by means of a heating pad, PGE1 delivered into a lateral cerebral ventricle or into the anterior hypothalamus caused a dose-dependent change in Tb, which was similar in time of onset, magnitude, and duration to that observed in conscious animals. This fever was accompanied by shivering and increased O2 uptake, heart rate, arterial blood pressure, respiratory rate, and intracranial pressure during the rising phase of the fever, and vasodilation of the paws occurred during defeveresence. Animals were also able to develop a dose-dependent rise in Tb in response to purified human interleukin 1.

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