Evaluation of brain temperature and cardiac function in a pharmacological model of schizophrenia in rats.

Variations in brain temperature are present in different neurophysiological functions and accompany pharmacological effects. One possible mechanism is change in neurovascular coupling, which is the close relationship between neuronal activity and blood vessel volume with consequent variation in brain temperature. Ketamine (KET) and MK-801 (dizocilpine) are non-competitive glutamatergic NMDA receptor blockers. Both drugs produce similar electrophysiological effects, but with some marked differences, which may reflect differences in the mechanisms of action of these compounds. It is possible that the physiological and behavioral changes induced by NMDA channel blockers do not exclusively result from the pharmacodynamic interaction of these receptors but depend on the correlated effects of brain temperature variation, correlates of brain electrical activity and cardiac function.