Abstract

This study was undertaken to determine whether the reported different courses of the febrile responses to the cytokines interleukin-1 beta (IL-1), interferon-alpha 2 (IFN), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) might have neuroelectrophysiological correlates. The reactions of individual thermosensitive neurons in the preoptic area (POA) were evaluated by recording their extracellular single-unit firing rates (FR) in slices of guinea pig POA perfused with artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF), human recombinant IL-1 (50-500 ng), IFN (1,000-8,000 U), and TNF (400-5,000 ng) (all doses per min/ml aCSF); thermosensitivity was assessed by FR responses to changes of perfusate temperature (32-42 degrees C). Overall, these cytokines depressed the FR of warm-sensitive units and excited those of cold-sensitive units, in agreement with expectations. However, the responses of individual neurons treated with two or all three cytokines were dissimilar: 61% of the units tested reacted differentially to two or three cytokines, 32% exhibited identical responses, and 7% had no response to any cytokine. These results support the possibility that IL-1, IFN, and TNF may affect not the same but rather distinct neurons functionally connected to common pyrogenic effectors. Thus they suggest that differential neuronal substrates may be utilized by each cytokine to exert its pyrogenic effect.