Effects of Systemic Interleukin-1 β Administration on Daily Drinking and Renal Excretory Function in Conscious Rats

Abstract

KANNAN, H., K. IKI, Y. ISHIZUKA, K. KATO, A. SHIMOKAWA, M. SAITA, T. KUNITAKE, AND T. HANAMORI. Effects of systemic interleukin-1 β administration on daily drinking and renal excretory function in conscious rats. PHYSIOL BEHAV 61(5) 707–715, 1997.—To elucidate the roles of interleukin-1 β (IL-1 β), a cytokine with several diverse actions, in the control of body fluid balance, its effects on daily drinking behavior and renal excretory function were examined in conscious rats. Administration of IL-1 β (4 μg/kg, IP) resulted in the suppression of both daily drinking and food intake and a decrease in daily urinary sodium and potassium excretion, but had no effect on urine volume. The IL-1 β-induced decrease in sodium excretion was abolished in renal-denervated rats. Kainic acid was then injected into the anteroventral third ventricle region, including the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, to examine whether neurons in this region are involved in the IL-1 β-induced responses; the effects on daily drinking and urinary sodium and potassium excretion were abolished, whereas the effects on food intake, although attenuated, were still present. In contrast, electrical lesion of the subfornical organ did not affect the IL-1 β-induced responses. Thus, IL-1 β seems exert its effects on body fluid balance at several distinct sites in the central nervous system.