Hyperpyrexia and Head Trauma.
Abstract
Unilateral mechanical lesions of the anterior hypothalamic/preoptic (AH/PO) region of the rat were found to produce immediate pyrexia. The pyrexia was generated by the coordinated activation of heat gain and heat retention effectors. Its magnitude was not strongly affected by ambient temperature, and the plateau level of pyrexia was well defended in the face of forced perturbations of core temperature. Pyrexia could be prevented and reversed by the prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor, indomethacin. Intraventricular injection of fresh blood or serum derived at 37 deg C for from 2 hours to 21 days produced pyrexia in cats. Pretreatment of the cats with indomethacin prevented the pyrexia produced by the serums but including indomethacin in the incubating blood did not. These results indicate that prostaglandins are importantly involved in the production of pyrexia by AH/PO trauma and by intraventricular bleeding. Studies of the central nervous system site of action of prostaglandins in the production of pyrexia using a microinjection mapping method showed that the AH/PO region is the sole site of action in the upper portion of the rat brain.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 09, 1984
- Accession Number
- ADA139420
Entities
People
- T. A. Rudy
Organizations
- University of Wisconsin Madison School of Pharmacy