title: Fever in pregnant, parturient, and lactating rats.
abstract: Conscious virgin, pregnant, or lactating rats were given intravenous Escherichia coli endotoxin while their temperatures were monitored telemetrically. Virgin females responded to 10-50 micrograms/kg endotoxin with a slight hypothermia, followed by a fever of nearly 2 degrees C magnitude. In pregnant rats given 25 micrograms/kg of the endotoxin, fevers were reduced between 96 h before and 24 h after parturition compared with those seen in virgins or in lactating rats > 24 h postpartum. In the 24-h period before expected time of parturition, no rat developed a fever and the majority of animals became hypothermic; furthermore, in 80% of such animals given 25 micrograms/kg endotoxin, the hypothermia was accompanied by death within 3-15 h. Some mortality and hypothermia were also seen up to 48 h before birth and up to 24 h after birth. No mortality was observed in virgin, pregnant, or lactating rats outside of this time period. We conclude that, around the time of delivery, there is a suppression of fever in the rat and occasional toxic responses to endotoxin.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Group, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Malkinson
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Veale
authors.forename: Q J
authors.initials: QJ
authors.lastname: Pittman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature; D004731:Endotoxins; D004926:Escherichia coli; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D007743:Labor, Obstetric / Q000502:physiology*; D007774:Lactation / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D004731:Endotoxins