Cold Restraint-Induced Gastric Lesions in Individual-and Group-Stressed rats in an Experimental Model of Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract

Ten days after bilateral electrolytic lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) (an experimental model of Alzheimer's disease), adult male Wistar rats were exposed to cold restraint stress in individual and social condition. Therefore, rats were placed into individual or group restraint boxes (composed of six single boxes) and exposed during 2 hr to the cold (4°C). The results showed that: 1) there were no differences in type and intensity of stress-induced gastric lesions between single-stressed intact control (IC), sham-operated (SO) and NBM-lesioned rats, 2) the incidence, number and length of gastric erosions were significantly higher in group-stressed NBM-lesioned rats than in IC and SO rats, 3) the individual-stressed IC and SO rats have significantly higher incidence, number and length of gastric erosions as well as ulcer index than IC and SO group-stressed rats, and 4) there were no significant differences in intensity and type of acute gastric lesions between single- and group-stressed NBM-lesioned rats. It could be concluded that NBM lesions induce significant changes in social behavior in rats.