Fetal alcohol exposure attenuates interleukin-lβ-induced fever:: neuroimmune mechanisms

Central mechanisms for the attenuating effects of fetal alcohol exposure (FAE) on interleukin-l beta (IL-l)-induced fever were studied in adult male offspring of dams fed a liquid diet supplemented with ethanol (E), in pair-fed (P) control and in normal (N) offspring. Hypothalamic levels of IL-I were significantly lower in E than in N rats at 2 h, but not at 4 and 6 h, after intraperitoneal administration of lipopolysaccharide. Fever induced by intracerebroventricular (icv) IL-1 was significantly lower in E than in N and P rats. In contrast, E rats showed a normal febrile response to icv prostaglandin-E-2 . Thus, whereas FAE does not affect central thermoregulatory mechanisms, per se, FAE alters the kinetics of hypothalamic IL-1 production/appearance and decreases the responsiveness of central mechanisms which mediate the febrile response to IL-I. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.