Abstract
Summary
Intracisternal injection in rabbits of endogenous (leucocytic) pyrogen prepared from rabbit leucocytes in vitro causes a high and sustained elevation of body (rectal) temperature, accompanied by prolonged depression of heat-loss mechanisms (panting and ear blood flow). In paired experiments, the same dose of endogenous pyrogen always caused a much greater increase of body temperature when given intracisternally than when given intravenously. The evidence strongly supports an hypothesis that endogenous pyrogen has a primary site of action in the central nervous system.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.