Bacterial lipopolysaccharide-induced changes in FOS protein expression in the rat brain: correlation with thermoregulatory changes and plasma corticosterone.

In the present study the regions of the brain showing an increase in the number of FOS protein stained cells 180 min following intravenous saline or bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment were investigated and correlated with changes in body temperature and plasma corticosterone levels. Particular attention was given to the possible involvement of the circumventricular organs and regions of the brainstem containing central noradrenergic neurones. LPS at doses of 0.35, 3.5 and 50 micrograms caused highly significant increases in FOS protein expression in the organum vasculosum of lamina terminalis, the area postrema and the subfornical organ compared with saline controls. Marked increases in bacterial lipopolysaccharide-induced FOS protein expression were observed in the ventrolateral medulla, the nucleus of the solitary tract and the locus coeruleus which contain the A1, A2 and A6 noradrenergic neurones respectively. The changes in body temperature induced by LPS were found to be dependent upon the dose of LPS administered; the lowest dose employed (0.35 micrograms) induced an immediate and sustained fever, 3.5 micrograms LPS caused a biphasic response consisting of a hypothermic response followed by a febrile response, whereas 50 micrograms LPS induced a hypothermic response which then normalised by 160 min post-injection. Intravenous saline injection had no significant effect on body temperature. The occurance of LPS-induced hypothermia was coincident with increased FOS expression in the bed nucleus of stria terminalis, which houses vasopressinergic neurones involved in antipyresis, whereas in animals showing an LPS-induced febrile response there was no significant difference in the number of FOS stained cells in the bed nucleus of stria terminalis compared with saline treated animals. LPS also caused marked increases in FOS protein expression in the parvocellular regions of the paraventricular nucleus (pPVN) of the hypothalamus, the central nucleus of the amygdala and the ventral septal area. Plasma corticosterone was unaffected by the lowest dose of LPS (0.35 micrograms), however the higher doses employed (3.5 and 50 micrograms) caused significant increases in plasma corticosterone which correlated with the increases in the number of FOS stained cells in the pPVN. The results of the present study suggest that, in addition to the organum vasculosum of lamina terminalis, the area postrema and subfornical organ may be important in the responses to antigenic challenge that are mediated by the central nervous system. They also add support to the possible involvement of the bed nucleus of stria terminalis in LPS-induced hypothermia and of the involvement of the of the major noradrenergic cell groups (A1, A2 & A6) and a number of hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic forebrain regions in the interaction of immune and central nervous systems.