Te. Scammell et al., MICROINJECTION OF A CYCLOOXYGENASE INHIBITOR INTO THE ANTEROVENTRAL PREOPTIC REGION ATTENUATES LPS FEVER, American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology, 43(3), 1998, pp. 783-789
Considerable evidence supports the role of prostaglandins in fever pro
duction, but the neuroanatomic sites of prostaglandin synthesis that p
roduce fever remain unknown. With the use of a novel microinjection te
chnique, we injected the cyclooxygenase inhibitor ketorolac into the p
reoptic area (POA) to determine which preoptic regions produce the pro
staglandins required for fever. Initial experiments demonstrated that
intravenous ketorolac blocked the fever normally produced by lipopolys
accharide (LPS) 5 mu g/kg iv. Microinjection of ketorolac into the POA
had no effect on body temperature, and injection of artificial cerebr
ospinal fluid into the POA did not alter LPS fever. Injection of ketor
olac into the anteroventral POA markedly decreased the fever produced
by LPS, compared with injections into more rostral, caudal, or dorsal
locations. These observations indicate that prostaglandin synthesis in
the anteroventral preoptic region is necessary for the production of
fever.