Conditional shifts in thermic responses to sequentially paired drugs and the "conditional hyperactivity" hypothesis.

Previous experiments have demonstrated that upward shifts in a rat's thermic response to certain drugs may be observed when these drugs have been paired on several occasions with agents that induce hypothermia. A "conditional hyperactivity" hypothesis suggests that these upward shifts may simply reflect drug elicited increases in body movements which translate into higher temperatures. The present experiment explored this hypothesis. Atropine sulfate (10 mg/kg) was paired with sodium pentobarbital (40 mg/kg) on multiple occasions and several tests were conducted with both drugs. This treatment yielded a conditional hyperthermic response to atropine, but the drug was not found to elicit an increase in gross motor movements. Of greatest interest was the finding that the atropine, when injected 30 min prior to a hypnotic dose of pentobarbital (80 mg/kg), attenuated the hypothermia normally induced by this barbiturate while leaving the duration of hypnosis unaffected. This upward thermic shift cannot be accounted for by the "conditional hyperactivity" hypothesis because the animals were immobile while under pentobarbital's influence. These findings suggest that autonomic events, as yet unspecified, may underlie certain conditional temperature increases.