Low doses of neurotensin in the preoptic area produce hyperthermia. Comparison with other brain sites and with neurotensin-induced analgesia

Low doses of neurotensin in the preoptic area produce hyperthermia. Comparison with other brain sites and with neurotensin-induced analgesia

High amounts of neurotensin (NT) are found in the preoptic area of the hypothalamus, an area known to be involved in the regulation of body temperature. It is generally believed that NT is a peptide that produces hypothermia, and several sites in the brain have been proposed to mediate NT-induced hy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain research bulletin Vol. 39; no. 5; pp. 275 - 279
Main Authors: Benmoussa, Mouna, Chait, Abderrahman, Loric, Gwenola, De Beaurepaire, Renaud
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 1996
Elsevier Science
Subjects:
Analgesia - methods
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Body Temperature Regulation - drug effects
Brain - drug effects
Brain mapping
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hypothalamus
Hypothalamus, Posterior - drug effects
Injections
Injections, Intraventricular
Intracerebral injection
Neuroleptic
Neurotensin - pharmacology
Nucleus accumbens
Nucleus Accumbens - drug effects
Pain
Preoptic Area - drug effects
Rat
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Temperature
Thermoregulation. Hibernation. Estivation. Ecophysiology and environmental effects
Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
Nucleus accumbens
Temperature
Pain
Rat
Neuroleptic
Brain mapping
Intracerebral injection
Hypothalamus
Body temperature
Rodentia
Central nervous system
Neurotensin
Neuropeptide
Analgesia
Vertebrata
Mammalia
Preoptic nucleus
Hyperthermia
Brain (vertebrata)
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Summary:High amounts of neurotensin (NT) are found in the preoptic area of the hypothalamus, an area known to be involved in the regulation of body temperature. It is generally believed that NT is a peptide that produces hypothermia, and several sites in the brain have been proposed to mediate NT-induced hypothermia, including the preoptic area. However, the doses of NT used in these experiments were always very high (microgram order) whereas, according to Goedert, the total brain content of NT in the rat does not exceed 10 ng. We therefore reinvestigated the effects of microinjections of NT in the brain, using high (5 μg) and low (50 and 5 ng) doses, into the preoptic area and other brain sites (cerebral ventricles, posterior hypothalamus, and nucleus accumbens), and we also studied, as a comparison, the effects of high and low doses of NT on pain sensitivity in the same sites. The results show that the preoptic area has unique properties in the regulation of body temperature: low doses of NT in the preoptic area produce a hyperthermic response, whereas high doses produce hypothermia. In comparison, NT produces hypothermia in the posterior hypothalamus whatever the dose, and NT has analgesic effects in the preoptic area only at high doses. Besides, NT has no thermic effect, but does have an analgesic effect, in the nucleus accumbens. The selectivity of the actions of high doses of NT, as well as the mechanism of action of NT (possibly an endogenous neuroleptic), are discussed.
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ISSN:0361-9230
1873-2747
DOI:10.1016/0361-9230(95)02138-8