Role of noradrenaline and 5-hydroxytryptamine in tetrahydronaphthylamine-induced temperature changes in the rat.

1. Intraperitoneal administration of graded doses of tetrahydronaphthylamine (THN) to rats caused a dose dependent decrease in body temperature.2. Intracisternal injection of graded doses of THN induced hypothermia, and implantation of crystalline THN rostral to the medial preoptic area and caudal to the striatum, caused hyperthermia.3. Pretreatment of the rats with a MAO inhibitor changed the hypothermia into hyperthermia.4. Intraperitoneal injection of 5-hydroxytryptophan caused a hypothermia which could be reversed into hyperthermia when the rats were pretreated with a MAO inhibitor.5. Pretreatment with parachlorophenylalanine enhanced the THN-induced hypothermia.6. Depletion of brain monoamines by Ro-4-1284 in combination with an inhibition of the biosynthesis of noradrenaline (diethyldithiocarbamate) changed the THN-induced hypothermia into hyperthermia.7. It is concluded that THN affects body temperature in rats by two central mechanisms, viz. a decrease mediated by noradrenaline, probably in the hypothalamus, and an increase which might be mediated by 5-hydroxytryptamine rostral to the medial preoptic area.