Nicotine treatment reduces LPS-induced sickness responses in telemetry monitoring rats

Cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP) inhibits unrestrained inflammatory response in a variety of experimental models. Limited research has been done yet to examine the mechanisms of activating CAP on bio-behavioral changes such as heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), body temperature (BT), locomotor activity (LA), and autonomic nervous activity (ANA). We observed these parameters using telemetry to clarify pathophysiological mechanisms of CAP. Nicotine significantly attenuated LPS-induced changes in HR, BP, LA, and ANA. These changes were accompanied by significant inhibition of TNF-α and IL-1β syntheses. However the LPS-induced physiological responses persisted much longer than the cytokines production. These results indicate that systemic nicotine treatment inhibits LPS-induced cytokines production and attenuates the associated physiological and behavioral sickness responses.