Abstract
Male rats received an end-to-side portacaval anastomosis (PCS) or sham surgery and were permitted to recover from the acute effects of surgery. The motor activity of PCS and sham rats was measured for a 63-min period in an enclosed runway during both diurnal and nocturnal phases and on two different dietary regimens. PCS rats were less active than sham controls under all experimental conditions; neither time of testing nor addition of corn to the usual laboratory chow diet significantly influenced motor activity. In a subsequent test, PCS and sham rats received repeated trials in a swim canal until exhaustion occurred. There was no significant difference between these two groups in either the number of swim trials completed or the total time spent swimming up to the final trial. These latter results suggest that the activity deficit observed in PCS rats in the runway test was probably not a consequence of early exhaustion or fatigue.
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