Apomorphine-susceptible and apomorphine-unsusceptible Wistar rats differ in their recovery from stress-induced ulcers

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of restraint-in-water-stress on gastric ulcerations in two fundamentally different types of animals: the apomorphine-susceptible (APO-SUS) and apomorphine-unsusceptible (APO-UNSUS) rats. APO-SUS and APO-UNSUS do not only differ in their susceptibility to the dopamine agonist apomorphine, but also in stress-induced release of mesolimbic dopamine and corticosterone. All three factors are known to either predict or be involved in gastric ulceration. The results showed that immediately after the stressor the ulcerations in APO-SUS and APO-UNSUS rats were not line-specific. On the contrary, the recovery from gastric ulceration varied between both types of rat: APO-SUS rats did not show any sign of recovery after 6 hours whereas APO-UNSUS rats significantly recovered during the period of 0–6 hr after the stressor. It is hypothesised that this difference is due to the fact that APO-UNSUS rats are characterised by a less and shorter-lasting stress-induced increase of corticosterone. This study provides evidence that the pathological effects of exposure to stressors significantly differ between APO-SUS and APO-UNSUS rats and that genetic factors may direct the process of recovering from ulcers.