Abstract.
We have administered aminoguanidine, a relatively specific inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide synthase, and N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), an unspecific nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, to rats made febrile with the gram-positive pyrogen, muramyl dipeptide and gram-negative pyrogen, lipopolysaccharide. Sprague-Dawley rats, housed individually at ~25 °C with a 12:12 h light:dark cycle (lights on 0700 hours), were injected (at 0900 hours) intraperitoneally with 50 mg/kg aminoguanidine, 25 mg/kg or 50 mg/kg L-NAME, and intramuscularly with 500 µg/kg muramyl dipeptide or 100 µg/kg lipopolysaccharide. Pyrogen injections were spaced at least 14 days apart. Body temperature was measured throughout the study in unrestrained animals using radio-telemetry. Neither muramyl dipeptide nor lipopolysaccharide-induced fevers were affected by aminoguanidine. However, L-NAME administration inhibited muramyl dipeptide and lipopolysaccharide-induced fevers, but only for the 1st 2-4 h of the fevers (two-way ANOVA, P<0.05). After the initial inhibition, lipopolysaccharide fevers developed normally. Therefore, constitutively expressed nitric oxide synthase appears to be involved in the initial phases of fever genesis of gram-negative and gram-positive fevers in rats. On the other hand, inducible nitric oxide synthase appears not to play a role in these fevers.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Electronic Publication
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kamerman, .P., Mitchell, .D. & Laburn, .H. Effects of nitric oxide synthase inhibitors on the febrile response to muramyl dipeptide and lipopolysaccharide in rats. J Comp Physiol B 172, 441–446 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-002-0273-0
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-002-0273-0