Assessing the effects of oxytocin in changes of core body temperature during LPS-induced endotoxemia: A novel approach using Extended Poincaré Plot Analysis

Oxytocin has shown cardioprotective effects during inflammation and may modify the core body temperature changes in LPS-induced endotoxemia. Notably, the time series analysis of core body temperature fluctuations may indicate thermoregulation alterations. This study aims to assess the effects of oxytocin on changes in the core body temperature by analyzing the fluctuations of the temperature time series of endotoxemic rats. Twelve hours of continuous core body temperature fluctuations time series were obtained from adult male Dark Agouti rats implanted with a telemetric transmitter under the following treatment: lipopolysaccharide (LPS); oxytocin (O); lipopolysaccharide + oxytocin (LPS + O), and vehicle or control (C). The temperature fluctuations time series were analyzed using the Extended Poincaré Plot Analysis (EPPA), a novel approach for measuring nonlinear features, to compute the autocorrelation by Pearson's correlation coefficient r, the standard deviation perpendicular to the line of identity (SD1), and the standard deviation parallel to the line of identity (SD2). The autocorrelation of the temperature fluctuations assessed by Pearson's coefficient was significantly higher in the LPS group compared to control rats (C). Likewise, the co-administration of oxytocin during endotoxemia (LPS + O) significantly reduced the autocorrelation and increased the short-term variability (SD1) of temperature fluctuations compared to those recorded with a single dose of LPS. Thus, we concluded that oxytocin may introduce thermoregulatory changes under LPS-induced endotoxemia. The EPPA is a simple and powerful approach to assess physiological variability that can provide valuable insights into changes in thermoregulation. •Oxytocin reduces thermoregulatory changes in LPS-induced endotoxemia.•Oxytocin increases short-term variability of core body temperature.•EPPA provides insights into complex thermoregulatory processes.