zearalenone and Fever

The previously reported rise in rectal temperature that follows the intravenous injection of the mixture of metabolic products (extractable with ether from the Czapek Dox medium on which Penicillium gilmanii has grown) is due to a single compound, dihydrocurvularin. Intravenous injection of 1-10 micrograms of dihydrocurvularin into rabbits causes a rise of at least one degree in rectal temperature of rabbits in 2-8 h. The degree of temperature rise depends more on the individual rabbit than on the quantity of dihydrocurvularin injected. Treatment with lipopolysaccharide abolishes the ability of dihydrocurvularin to cause a rise in rectal temperature. Treatment with dihydrocurvularin, however, does not abolish the ability of lipopolysaccharide to induce a temperature response or a leukocytosis. Rabbits respond to repeated treatment with dihydrocurvularin with a rise in rectal temperature that is indistinguishable from that observed on their first injection. Treatment with dihydrocurvularin does not affect differential counts or the concentration of leukocytes or red blood cells in the circulatory system.

Topics: Animals; Blood Cell Count; Body Temperature; Borohydrides; Crystallization; Fever; Lipopolysaccharides; Oxidation-Reduction; Penicillium; Rabbits; Resorcinols; Zearalenone