Body temperature response to IL-1 beta in pregnant rats

Rats have an attenuated or absent febrile response to exogenous pyrogen (e.g., bacterial endotoxin) near term of pregnancy. With the aim of providing insight into possible mechanism(s) of the altered febrile response to exogenous pyrogen, experiments have been carried out on 67 time-bred Sprague-Dawley rats to investigate the febrile response to endogenous pyrogen [i.e., interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta)]. On day 13 of gestation, intravenous injection of IL-1 beta produced a significant increase in body temperature with a latency of approximately 30 min and a duration of approximately 120 min. In contrast, on days 17 and 21 of gestation as well as on the day of delivery, intravenous injection of IL-1 beta produced significant decreases in body temperature. Thus rats do not develop fever in response to endogenous pyrogen near term of pregnancy but rather become hypothermic. The mechanism of the altered body temperature response to exogenous pyrogen as pregnancy proceeds remains unknown. We speculate, however, that it most likely lies downstream from the formation of endogenous pyrogen.