Stimulation of brain muscarinic acetylcholine receptors acutely reverses radiogenic hypodipsia.

A sufficiently large dose of ionizing radiation produces changes in water consumption. However, the direction, durations, and physiological substrates of these alterations remain in question. Here we report a 5-d hypodipsia in rats exposed to 600 rads 60Co but a more transient, albeit larger, reduction in drinking after 1000 60Co. Brain cholinergic neurons have been implicated as mediators of thirst. Therefore, we explored the role of hypothalamic muscarinic receptors in the production of radiation-induced hypodipsia. This was accomplished through the intrahypothalamic injection of carbachol (a muscarinic agonist) or atropine (a muscarinic antagonist) in irradiated rats. Intracranial carbachol produced acute reversal of radiogenic hypodipsia while atropine potentiated the hypodipsia. These post-irradiation drug-induced behaviors were similar to those observed after the same drug treatments before irradiation. Since cholinergic neuronal functions persist and are labile (can be pharmacologically stimulated and blocked) after irradiation, this suggests that other neuronal systems and/or neurochemicals may be more prominently involved in radiogenic hypodipsia.