Reaction of Dogs to Hyperthermia and Fever

¹ From the Departments of Biology and Experimental Surgery, Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, New York

The response of 116 dogs to hyperthermia (warm water bath, direct heating of circulating blood, dinitrophenol) and fever (lipopolysaccharides) was studied to establish a safe and reproducible method for the production and maintenance of highly elevated body temperatures and for the determination of the thermal death point in warm-blooded animals. Fever was well tolerated, yet the dose-response-relationship was unsatisfactorily variable. The toxicity of dinitrophenol surpassed its hyperthermic properties. Hyperthermia by physical means was readily controllable, yet was poorly tolerated, because of exhaustive panting. Suppression of the latter by d-tubocurarine in combination with artificial respiration prolonged the survival time significantly. Thus this method is the most expedient so far available.