Old female and male rats are heterogeneous in their fever responses to lipopolysaccharide (LPS); some get moderately good fevers, some no fevers, and some become hypothermic. LPS stimulates the immune system to produce proinflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), which induce fever by causing synthesis and release of prostaglandin E2(PGE2). Old rats have very high levels of these cytokines. yet do not get good fevers. We have evidence that if IL-1 beta or PGE2 is infused into the brains of old rats, they show very good fever responses. Therefore, the problem must be in the periphery, but it cannot be in the lack of production of proinflammatory cytokines. We will measure the PGE2 released in the hypothalamus after LPS, which we predict will be lower than that induced in young rats after the same procedure. Old rats also have very high plasma levels of corticosterone (CORT), and CORT inhibits cytokine action and fever. Possibly the overproduction of cytokines in old animals is an attempt by the CNS to overcome the inhibiting effects of excess CORT. If so, then old rats injected with a CORT receptor antagonist should get higher fevers than controls will, and may need to generate lower levels of proinflammatory cytokines. It may also be that old rats do not get as high a fever as do young rats because they are generating higher levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines. One goal of this proposal is to measure brain, tissue, and plasma pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine and hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal (HPA) axis product levels in old rats to determine differences in the profiles that might explain differences in responses to LPS. We have recently found that when young rats were injected with LPS and left at an ambient temperature (Ta) of 23 C for three hr, they all developed fevers, as expected. Similarly treated old rats either had blunted fevers, no fever, or became hypothermic, also as anticipated. Unexpectedly, three hr post-injection. when the old rats were placed in a thermal gradient, they chose warm positions and became febrile. Thus, the drive towards fever was present in the old rats but could not be expressed without behavioral choice. We want to understand the basis of this surprising result.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01MH041138-12A1
Application #
2694066
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-NRB-R (05))
Program Officer
Winsky, Lois M
Project Start
1986-03-01
Project End
2003-12-31
Budget Start
1999-01-01
Budget End
1999-12-31
Support Year
12
Fiscal Year
1999
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Delaware
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
059007500
City
Newark
State
DE
Country
United States
Zip Code
19716
Buchanan, Jessica B; Peloso, Elizabeth; Satinoff, Evelyn (2008) A warmer ambient temperature increases the passage of interleukin-1beta into the brains of old rats. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 295:R361-8
Buchanan, Jessica B; Peloso, Elizabeth; Satinoff, Evelyn (2006) Influence of ambient temperature on peripherally induced interleukin-1 beta fever in young and old rats. Physiol Behav 88:453-8
Buchanan, Jessica B; Peloso, Elizabeth; Satinoff, Evelyn (2003) Thermoregulatory and metabolic changes during fever in young and old rats. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 285:R1165-9
Peloso, E D; Florez-Duquet, M; Buchanan, J B et al. (2003) LPS fever in old rats depends on the ambient temperature. Physiol Behav 78:651-4
Peloso, Elizabeth; Wachulec, Maciej; Satinoff, Evelyn (2002) Stress-induced hyperthermia depends on both time of day and light condition. J Biol Rhythms 17:164-70
Florez-Duquet, M; Peloso, E; Satinoff, E (2001) Fever and behavioral thermoregulation in young and old rats. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 280:R1457-61
Satinoff, E; Peloso, E; Plata-Salamn, C R (1999) Prostaglandin E2-induced fever in young and old Long-Evans rats. Physiol Behav 67:149-52
Satinoff, E (1998) Patterns of circadian body temperature rhythms in aged rats. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol 25:135-40
Plata-Salaman, C R; Peloso, E; Satinoff, E (1998) Interleukin-1beta-induced fever in young and old Long-Evans rats. Am J Physiol 275:R1633-8
Plata-Salaman, C R; Peloso, E; Satinoff, E (1998) Cytokine-induced fever in obese (fa/fa) and lean (Fa/Fa) Zucker rats. Am J Physiol 275:R1353-7

Showing the most recent 10 out of 25 publications