title: Inhibitors of nitric oxide synthesis block cold-induced thermogenesis in rats.
abstract: N-nitro-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), an unspecific nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, was administered to individually caged Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to cold (18 degrees C) and thermoneutral (30 degrees C) environmental temperatures during the active phase of the animals' circadian cycle. Unrestrained rats were administered intraperitoneal injections of 100 mg x kg-1 L-NAME or 1 mL x kg-1 saline. Telemetry was used to measure abdominal temperature. On a separate occasion, metabolic rate and evaporative water loss were measured using indirect calorimetery, before and after the injection of 100 mg x kg-1 L-NAME, in rats exposed to the two environments. Injection of L-NAME had no significant effect on body temperature, metabolic rate, or evaporative water loss in rats exposed to the 30 degrees C environment. In the 18 degrees C environment, L-NAME injection caused a prolonged fall in body temperature ( F(1,12) = 17.43, P = 0.001) and a significant decrease in metabolic rate (Student's t test, P = 0.001) and evaporative water loss (one-sample t test, P = 0.04). Therefore, the effects that systemic injection of L-NAME has on body temperature are dependent on environmental temperature, with nitric oxide synthase inhibition seemingly preventing the metabolic component of cold defence.
authors.affiliation: Brain Function Research Unit, School of Physiology, University of the Witwatersrand, Medical School, Parktown, 2193, South Africa. kamermanpr@physiology.wits.ac.za
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Kamerman
authors.forename: Helen P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Laburn
authors.forename: Duncan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mitchell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003080:Cold Temperature; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D022722:Thermogenesis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester