Early mortality and temperature regulation in burned mice following administration of catecholamines and adrenergic...

The effect of catecholamines and adrenergic receptor blocking drugs on mortality and body temperature was studied in mice subjected to burn, tourniquet, and endotoxin shock at an environmental temperature of 25 degrees C. Epinephrine and norepinephrine (0.5 mg/kg) injected intraperitoneally postburn increased shock mortality significantly (p less than 0.05); pretreatment with these catecholamines had no effect. Pretreatment of burn- and tourniquet-traumatized mice with propranolol (25 mg/kg) significantly decreased shock mortality, while pretreatment with dibenamine (25 mg/kg) significantly lowered early mortality after endotoxin. None of the catecholamines or their blocking drugs significantly prevented the characteristic immediate fall in core temperature after the three types of shock. At 6 days postburn, however, a combination of propranolol and dibenamine caused a marked fall in core temperature (p less than 0.05). These results indicate that beta-catecholamine agonists could play an important role in acute burn mortality and that both alpha- and beta-catecholamine agonists could significantly influence body temperature regulation and metabolic rate during the late postburn period.