Determination of catecholamines and their metabolites in adrenals of stress-loaded and wild suncus (Suncus murinus).

Abstract

The contents of catecholamines and their metabolites were measured in the adrenals of 3 groups of suncus. The first group was naive housed suncus; the second, suncus with stress-loading; and the third, wild ones. There were no significant differences in dopamine, norepinephrine and normetanephrine levels among the control, stress and wild groups. The content of epinephrine, however, decreased in the stress and wild group to 57% and 18%, respectively. These results suggest that housed suncus can easily react to stressful circumstances.