Somatic and behavioral reactions in rats under the modeling of the stress of “deficiency of time”

Abstract

In experiments on 60 white outbred male rats, the effect of the stress of “deficiency of time” on somatic (relative masses of the adrenal glands, thymus and spleen, gastric mucosa, consentrations of corticosteroids and insulin in the blood) and behavioral (vertical and horizontal motor activity) indicators of stress-reactions, physical endurance of animals, thyroid function (serum concentration of total and free fractions of triiodothyronine and thyroxine, thyrotropic hormone) is considered.As a result of the study, it was found that the stress of “deficiency of time” causes an increase in the relative mass of the adrenal glands (by 31 %), a decrease in relative masses of the thymus and spleen (by 26 and 14 %), damage to the gastric mucosa (in 80 % rats with a severity 1 point in 20 % rats, 2 or 3 points in the remaining 60 % in the 1:1 ratio; a multiplicity of 2 hemorrhages per animal in 30 %, 3 in 40 % and 4 in 10 % rats, damage index is 4.7), changes in the serum concentration of corticosteroids (increase by 43 %) and insulin (decrease by 19 %) and leads to the activation of thyroid function (age concentration of total and free triiodothyronine and thyroxin increased by 18–32 %). Under the stress of “deficiency of time”, the horizontal locomotor activity and the physical endurance of animals increase, while their vertical locomotor and exploratory activity decreases. The proposed model allows studying the mechanisms of development of stress damage in order to develop new ways to limit the negative effects of emotional stress on human health.