Thermoregulation: Cytokines Involved in Fever and Exercise

Abstract

The study of fever has provided important models in understanding the cells, chemical messengers, and anatomic structures that are involved in inflammation and thermoregulation as a result of infection, stress, or trauma. After contact with a pathogen or an inflammatory stimulus, cells are activated to produce endogenous pyrogens called cytokines. Cytokine functions include a cascade of nonspecific immune responses by target leukocytes and reticuloendothelial cells inducing the synthesis of acute phase proteins by the liver, direct pyrogenic activities via the supraoptic nuclei and the hypothalamus to increase the thermoregulatory set-point (and, thus, induce fever), and a wide spectrum of additional immune effects.