Neurotensin perfusion of rat hypothalamus: dissociation of dopamine release from body temperature change.

To determine whether endogenous dopamine is involved in the impairment of body temperature induced by neurotensin, the local activity of [14C]dopamine in the hypothalamus of the unanesthetized rat was examined. A push-pull guide tube was implanted permanently above an intended site of perfusion within the anterior hypothalamic, pre-optic area or other region of the diencephalon. After the endogenous stores of dopamine at a specific site were labelled by microinjection of 0.02-0.05 muCi of [14C]dopamine, an artificial cerebrospinal fluid was perfused at the site at a rate of 20 microliter/min and at successive 5 min intervals. Perfusion of neurotensin in concentrations of 0.05 or 0.1 microgram/microliter in the dorsomedial hypothalamus, lateral hypothalamus, arcuate nucleus or diagonal band of Broca evoked a calcium-dependent efflux of [14C]dopamine. The release of dopamine induced by neurotensin was functionally specific since it was: (1) not mimicked by the relatively inactive neurotensin analogue, [D-Arg9]neurotensin; (2) dependent on the morphological locus of the push-pull perfusion; and (3) not accompanied by an efflux of [3H]norepinephrine when the site was double-labelled. Although neurotensin perfused in the anterior hypothalamic, pre-optic area caused a consistent decline in temperature, in most cases the temperature change did not correlate with an enhanced release of dopamine. Moreover, the release of dopamine, but not the temperature change, was abolished when neurotensin was perfused in a calcium-free medium. These results show that it is unlikely that the thermolytic action of neurotensin, at least within the hypothalamus, is mediated by the presynaptic release of dopamine.