[Effect of activation and blockade of central P2X receptors on body temperature].

The aim of the present study was to elucidate the role of extracellular ATP acting on specific P2X receptors in the central mechanisms of thermoregulation. Using immunohistochemistry methods, it was found that the brainstem structures involved in the body temperature regulation contain a large number of nerve cells which possess P2X receptors for ATP. Experiments with intracerebroventricular application of a stable ATP analogue and P2X receptor antagonists to conscious rats showed that both activation and blockade of central P2X receptors resulted in marked changes in body temperature. Analysis of the effects of these agents suggests that ATP by acting on P2X receptors performs an important function in the mechanisms of transmission of afferent information coming from peripheral thermoreceptors to the brainstem thermoregulatory centres responsible for heat loss, and during pyrogen-induced fever can be involved in the action of the endogenous antipyretic system.