Catecholaminergic alpha‐receptors and shivering in the rat.

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Abstract
A rise or a fall in systemic blood pressure brought about by the i.v. infusion of peripherally acting drugs (adenosine, noradrenaline [norepinephrine] or methoxamine) inhibited shivering in the cold-exposed rat. Since the injection of commonly used doses of noradrenaline (0.05-0.10 .mu.mol) into a lateral cerebral ventricle of a rat was usually accompanied by a rise in blood pressure, special precautions were required to determine whether noradrenaline had a specific central effect on shivering. Small doses of noradrenaline (0.02-0.03 .mu.mol) or clonidine (0.01 .mu.mol), which had no effect on blood pressure when injected into a lateral cerebral ventricle, still inhibited shivering in the cold-exposed rat. This effect was prevented by phentolamine. Noradrenaline can inhibit the cold sensor-shivering pathway in its central course by an action on .alpha.-receptors.