Thermal and behavioral effects of lipopolysaccharide and influenza in interleukin-1[beta] deficient mice. Kozak, Wieslaw, Hui Zheng, Carole A. Conn, Dariusz Soszynski, Lex H. T. Van Der Ploeg, Matthew J. Kluger. Institute for Basic and Applied Medical Research, The Lovelace Institutes, 2425 Ridgecrest Dr. S.E., Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108, Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, Merck Research Laboratories, Division of Merck & Co., Inc., P.O. Box 2000, Rahway, New Jersey 07065
APStracts 2:0151R, 1995.
Kozak, Wieslaw, Hui Zheng, Carole A. Conn, Dariusz Soszynski, Lex H.T. Van der Ploeg, Matthew J. Kluger. Thermal and behavioral effects of lipopolysaccharide and influenza in interleukin-1[beta] deficient mice. Am. J. Physiol. (Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol.). This study characterized body temperature (Tb), locomotor activity (Act), and feeding behavior under normal conditions and following injection with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or inoculation with live influenza virus of transgenic C57/black mice deficient in interleukin-1[beta] (IL-1[beta]). Tb and Act in freely moving mice were measured by biotelemetry. Mice deficient in IL-1[beta] had normal circadian rhythm of Tb; however, they were less active than their control counterparts. Mice injected ip with LPS (2.5 mg/kg) responded with a prompt decrease of Tb, which lasted ca. 10 h, followed by a fever in which the Tb reached a peak at 24 h post injection. There was no difference between groups in the early drop of Tb after the LPS; however, the 24 h peak of the Tb was lower in IL-1[beta] deficient mice. The anorexic effects of LPS and influenza infection were similar in both groups of mice. Mice given influenza virus (17.5 PFU, LD50) gradually decreased Tb and Act. The fall of Tb was smaller in the transgenic mice. The mice deficient in IL-1[beta] displayed higher mortality rate due to influenza infection than the control mice. We conclude that deficiency in IL-1[beta] results in lower fever following the LPS injection and in impairment of the defense response to infection with influenza.

Received 26 January 1995; accepted in final form 18 May 1995.
APS Manuscript Number R65-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Regulatory Integrative
Comp. Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on  8 June 1995.