THE EFFECT OF Δ⁹‐TETRA‐HYDROCANNABINOL ON BODY TEMPERATURE AND BRAIN AMINE CONCENTRATIONS IN THE RAT AT DIFFERENT AMBIENT TEMPERATURES

Abstract

I Rats were injected intravenously with 2 mg/kg (-)-trans-A9-tetrahydrocannabinol (A9-THC) at ambient temperatures of 40, 2 10, 310 and 370C. 2 The general behaviour exhibited by rats treated with A9-THC was similar at all four ambient temperatures.3 Body temperatures were recorded continuously before and after drug administration. At 40 and 210C, A9-THC caused hypothermia whereas no change in body temperature occurred at 310 and 370C. 4 The concentrations in the whole brain of noradrenaline (NA), dopamine, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) were determined spectrophotofluorimetrically 1 h after drug administration. At 40C A9-THC caused an increase of 5-HT, at 21 OC an increase of 5-HIAA, at 31 OC an increase of 5-HIAA and a decrease of NA, and at 370C an increase of 5-HT and 5-HIAA.5 At all ambient temperatures, A9-THC increased the brain levels of 5-HT and/or 5-HIAA. A correlation between the A9-THC-induced hypothermic response and the possible alteration of brain 5-HT metabolism cannot be excluded.

Synthetic cannabinoids found in “spice” products alter body temperature and cardiovascular parameters in conscious male rats

“…The cannabinoid CB 1 inverse agonist rimonabant antagonized the hypothermic responses to all drugs tested. Our body temperature results agree with previous work using THC (e.g., Fennessy and Taylor, 1977; Pertwee and Tavendale, 1977; Taffe et al, 2015) and other synthetic cannabinoids (De Fry et al, 2004; Fan et al, 1994; Ovadia et al, 1995; Rawls et al, 2002; Tai et al, 2015). In particular, the present temperature data in rats are similar to those reported by Banister et al (2015) who showed that JWH-018, AM2201 and XLR-11 produce robust hypothermia in conscious rats fitted with biotelemetry transmitters (Banister et al, 2015).…”

Modulation of Δ9‐tetrahydrocannabinol‐induced hypothermia by fluoxetine in the rat

“…The results of the present study agree with previous reports that showed a dose‐dependent reduction in body temperature following Δ 9 ‐THC administration in rats. Similar hypothermic responses have been shown in a number of studies using various cannabinoid CB 1 receptor agonists (Fennessy & Taylor, 1977; 1978; Lichtman & Martin, 1991; Compton et al , 1992; 1996). Δ 9 ‐THC in the same doses and the same species of rat were used by Fennessy & Taylor (1978) as in the present study.…”

Chronic administration of THC prevents the behavioral effects of intermittent adolescent MDMA administration and attenuates MDMA-induced hyperthermia and neurotoxicity in rats

“…Most previous THC studies used ambient temperatures of 20–22°C in contrast to the present ambient temperatures that averaging 26°C and 23°C, respectively, in Experiments I and II. The influence of ambient temperature on THC-induced thermal responses has been shown in earlier studies that noted the occurrence of a hypothermic response when the experiment was conducted at 10°C or 20°C but not at 31°C (Bloom and Kiernan, 1980; Fennessy and Taylor, 1977). Morley and coworkers (2004) previously reported that concurrent administration of either THC or the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist CP 55,940 prevented MDMA-induced hyperthermia.…”