THE EFFECT OF LOW ENVIRONMENTAL TEMPERATURE ON THE TRANYLCYPROMINE-MEPERIDINE INTERACTION IN MICE

¹ Department of Pharmacology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York

The effect of a low environmental temperature on the mortality resultant from the administration of tranylcypromine and meperidine 4 hours apart was investigated in mice. It was found that exposure to an environmental temperature of 2°C for 1 hour prior to meperidine administration markedly reduced mortality among animals removed from the low temperature environment after the meperidine administration and markedly increased mortality among animals continued at the low temperature, after meperidine administration. Because the tranylcypromine-meperidine interaction is normally associated with a marked hyperthermia, the body temperature correlates of the interaction were investigated in mice exposed to a low environmental temperature. Under the conditions of cold exposure, mice administered tranylcypromine and meperidine did not show a hyperthermic response but rather a hypothermic one. Further investigation showed this response to be mediated exclusively by meperidine. In related experiments intertreatment with prednisolone was found to be without effect on the mortality resultant from the tranylcypromine-meperidine interaction.