Blockade of interleukin-1 induced hyperthermia by subdiaphragmatic vagotomy: evidence for vagal mediation of immune-brain communication
Abstract
Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), a cytokine released by activated immune cells, elicits various illness symptoms including hyperthermia. Previous hypotheses to account for these actions have focused on blood-borne IL-1 beta exerting its effects directly at the level of the brain. However, recent behavioral and physiological evidence suggest that IL-1 beta can activate the subdiaphragmatic vagus. The present experiments demonstrate that subdiaphragmatic vagal transection disrupts the hyperthermia-inducing effects of recombinant human IL-1 beta and stress. These data provide evidence for a novel route of immune-brain communication, as well as a novel route whereby stress can influence physiological processes.
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Sensory fibers traveling with the vagus nerve transmit information to the brain that is necessary and sufficient for initiating fever and other responses to injury or infection.
“sensory fibers traveling with the vagus nerve transmit information to the brain that is both necessary and sufficient for initiating fever and other responses to injury or infection (15,16).”
From Physiology and immunology of the cholinergic antiinflammatory pathway (2007) · cites this paper as [15]
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- Authors
- Watkins, L. R., Goehler, L. E., Relton, J. K., Tartaglia, N., Silbert, L., Martin, D., & Maier, S. F.
- Affiliations
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Corresponding author
- Watkins, Linda R.
- Venue
- Neuroscience Letters
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1995-01
- Volume
- 183
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 27-31
- ISSN
- 0304-3940 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2092358120
- Cited by
- 516
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 24
- FWCI
- 19.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuroscience Letters (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01mh045045-12, 5r01ns031569-03)
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH-45045)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS31569)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Vagus Nerve Stimulation Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine › Thermal Regulation in Medicine
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- IL-1β, fever, hyperthermia, subdiaphragmatic vagotomy, vagus nerve, vagal afferents, stress
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain, Fever, Interleukin-1, Male, Stress, Physiological, Time Factors, Vagotomy, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Rats
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