Chronic Overcrowding Research Articles

The Effect of Chronic Overcrowding on Social Behavior and Expression of Neuroinflammation-Associated Genes in Rats.

The effect of chronic overcrowding on the social behavior of adult male Wistar rats was studied. From postnatal day 30 (P30) to P180, the rats lived under standard (STND) or overcrowded (CRWD) conditions. Starting from P100, rat behavior was studied in the social preference and tube dominance tests, and aggressive behavior was investigated in the resident-intruder test. After decapitation of rats on P180, amygdala, dorsal hippocampus, ventromedial hypothalamus, and medial prefrontal cortex were collected and analyzed for expression of the IL-1β, TNF, TGF-β1, and IL-6 mRNAs by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Compared to the STND group, rats from the CRWD group demonstrated shorter interaction time with a social object in the social preference test. They also had more wins in the tube test and initiated more attacks in the resident-intruder test. Expression of the IL1β gene in the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex and of the TGFβ1 gene in the hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex was increased in the CRWD group. The stress induced by overcrowding increased social dominance and aggressiveness and decreased social motivation in rats. The changes in the social behavior of CRWD rats were accompanied by upregulation of expression of genes for the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β and the anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β1 in a number of brain structures, which can be considered as manifestations of neuroinflammation and compensatory processes, respectively.

BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA – THE SPECTRE OF CRIME AND PRISON OVERCROWDING IN POSTAPARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

Chronic overcrowding has plagued the South African penal system since the advent of democracy in 1994. This has resulted in the large-scale gross violation of the basic human rights of large numbers of prisoners. After examining certain historical examples of overcrowding in the prisons of Africa generally, the article focuses on the history of chronic overcrowding in the prisons of South Africa during the post-apartheid period. The hard choices facing the South African people and government in relation to this issue are then examined.

Nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a neonatal unit in Botswana: chronic overcrowding meets a novel pathogen

We describe a cluster of six SARS-CoV-2 infections occurring in a crowded neonatal unit in Botswana, including presumed transmission among mothers, postnatal mother-to-neonate transmission and three neonate-to-healthcare worker transmissions. The...

Mobility Patterns of International Tourists: Implications for Responsible Urban Tourism

Up until the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rapid growth of tourism in popular urban destinations around the globe saw the effects of chronic overcrowding and the breaching of acceptable limits of change imposed on local communities. Overtourism became prominent, intensifying amplified calls for planning and development regimes that emphasize responsible and sustainable tourism growth. In Japan, the term “tourism pollution” emerged as a response to untrammeled growth in cities like Kyoto, Tokyo and Osaka. Understanding the mobility of international tourists in urban contexts is raised here as one way to come to terms with urban overcrowding, particularly in hotspots where popular attractions predominate. In examining international tourist mobility, we argue that spatial and temporal behaviors can be constructive toward the responsible planning and development of urban tourism. Japan’s second most populated city Osaka is the context for this research with GPS big data collected in partnership with one of the country’s foremost navigation app developers. American, Chinese, and South Korean tourist mobility patterns were observed with the evidence pointing out that overcrowding evident at iconic attractions was largely influenced by public transport networks in the city. Evidently, there were distinct differences between the three groups of tourists highlighting that spatio-temporal behavior varied according to the tourist’s country of origin. The findings from this research are instructive to urban tourism stakeholders including policy makers, destination marketing organizations (DMOs), and public transport providers and can help inform responsible and sustainable urban tourism planning and development.

From Jefferson to Banneker: The Intersection of Race, Demographic Change, and School Naming Practices in Kansas City's Segregated School System, 1940-1953

This article examines the impact of African American migration into Kansas City, Missouri, on the city's segregated school system in the 1940s and early 1950s. Substantial increases in the number of African American elementary school-age children produced chronic overcrowding in the segregated black schools, which was not easily relieved due to the legal requirement to operate racially segregated schools. In order to address the crowding, the school district was compelled on four occasions in the late 1940s and early 1950s to convert an entire school from white use to African American use. In each case, the school district took the symbolic step of changing the name of the school so that it was clearly identifiable as a school for African American students. The school district's practice of renaming schools coded those schools by race and further signaled that the surrounding area had become a black neighborhood.

No More ‘Code Black’: Intervention to Improve Inpatient Flow at a Large Public Hospital

Code Black is a documentary movie, and now television series, whose name derives from a term used to describe critical hospital overcrowding resulting in dangerously inadequate patient flow. The Los Angeles County + University of Southern California (LAC+USC) Medical Center is a large, urban, public hospital with a long history of spending substantial amounts of time in Code Black—indeed the movie was created by a former Emergency Medicine resident at LAC+USC Medical Center. To change years of inadequate inpatient flow, we implemented time-limited cardiac monitoring criteria and empowered existing staff to enforce admission and downgrade criteria for our telemetry, step-down care unit, and intensive care units. We evaluated the interventions' effects by comparing census and bed utilization before and after implementation of the criteria, and by evaluating the proportion of time the hospital spent in critical (“Code Black”) or severe (“Code Red”) overcrowding based on National Emergency Department Overcrowding Scores (NEDOCS) of ≥180 or ≥140, respectively. Implementation of utilization criteria allowed substantially better matching of unit occupancy with hospital occupancy, creating intensive care unit capacity despite a rising ward and hospital occupancy. The proportion of time spent in severe overcrowding/surge conditions declined from a baseline of 55% to less than 5%, and the time spent in critical overcrowding (Code Black) declined from 19% to less than 1%. Thus, simple, low-cost interventions markedly improved inpatient flow at a large, public hospital that has historically suffered from chronic overcrowding.

THE END OF THE HONEYMOON: PENAL DISCOURSE AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF PRISONERS IN THE AFTERMATH OF SOUTH AFRICA’S SECOND DEMOCRATIC ELECTION ‒ PART TWO

The years immediately following South Africa’s second democratic election, held in June 1999, were significant in that they marked the end of the “honeymoon” period which followed the country’s transition from apartheid to democracy in 1994. This article focuses on the public discourse surrounding imprisonment in South Africa during this important “post-honeymoon” period. The article traces the continued systematic violation of the basic human rights of many of those confined in South African prisons throughout the period. Part One of the article dealt with the many public debates surrounding chronic prison overcrowding and its effects, whereas Part Two deals with a host of evils which beset the South African penal system at this time, including very poor conditions of detention, high levels of gang activity, the spread of HIV/AIDS, the escape of dangerous criminals from different prisons in the country, and instances of corruption and other criminal activity amongst prisoners and staff.

Troubled Refuge: Struggling for Freedom in the Civil War by Chandra Manning

Reviewed by: Troubled Refuge: Struggling for Freedom in the Civil War by Chandra Manning David Silkenat (bio) Troubled Refuge: Struggling for Freedom in the Civil War. By Chandra Manning. ( New York: Knopf, 2016. Pp. 416. Cloth, $30.00; paper, $17.00.) Given the heartbreaking refugee crises that have been unfolding around the globe over the past decade, it is unsurprising that Civil War historians have focused their attention on the more than 400,000 African Americans who fled slavery during the Civil War and began the transition from slavery to freedom in refugee (contraband) camps. In Troubled Refuge, Chandra Manning develops an insight she first articulated in What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War (2007): that facts and attitudes on the ground mattered just as much as national policy when it came to the experience of African Americans. Building on the work of Thavolia Glymph, Jim Downs, Patricia Click, and Yael Sternhell (among many others), Manning demonstrates that contraband camps could be both sites of tremendous suffering and places where African Americans established churches and schools and rebuilt families fractured by slavery. Some of the story that Manning tells should be familiar to most historians—Benjamin Butler's formulation of the contraband policy at Fort Monroe in 1861, for instance. But Manning argues that the black refugee experience varied tremendously over time and space and that each contraband camp faced its own particular environmental, military, demographic, and political challenges. The landscape of emancipation and the geography of contraband camps followed the Union army. The earliest camps were established in territory always controlled by the Union, while others, especially in the western theater, sprung up as Union armies advanced into Confederate territory. Some of the critical differences between camps derived from the disposition of the white Union soldiers and officers, who could be variously sympathetic or hostile to the plight of black refugees. Although organizations such as the American Missionary Association and the New England Freedmen's Aid Society sought to relieve the humanitarian crisis in contraband camps, chronic overcrowding and epidemic disease imperiled the lives of black refugees. [End Page 499] The central historiographical innovation in Manning's argument is her treatment of black citizenship. In her conception, citizenship is less a legal status than a relationship between African Americans and the Federal government. Black refugees cultivated this relationship not only through military service, but also through the labor of black women in contraband camps on behalf of the Union war effort. In exchange for their loyalty and labor, black refugees expected the Federal government to protect their rights. Under this formulation, black refugees used citizenship as a means to secure their autonomy, their families, and their communities. Embracing this broader conception of citizenship allows Manning to see citizenship as a process, not entirely dissimilar to how many historians have come to view emancipation as a process. This alliance between the Federal government and black refugees remained contested throughout the war. When their interests coincided, African Americans were able to capitalize on the Union army's need for black labor to secure significant protections; at other times, Federal officials demonstrated callous disregard for the needs of black families living in contraband camps. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation, black freedom remained contested. As Manning points out, wartime emancipation did not necessarily imply permanent freedom, and both during and after the Civil War, African Americans had a legitimate fear of reenslavement. In this vein, Manning draws a connection between the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments: the Thirteenth granted black freedom, but the Fourteenth helped secure that freedom and make it meaningful. Manning wisely carries the story beyond April 1865; even though the war had ended, the status of black refugees remained deeply contested. Through the Freedmen's Bureau, African Americans and the federal government continued their uneasy alliance in the war's aftermath. Beautifully written and carefully researched, Troubled Refuge tells a complex story that is at times uplifting, chaotic, and poignant. Manning deftly balances her analysis with the need to allow the voices of black refugees to emerge. Given the critical importance of geography to black refugees' experiences and to Manning's argument, the volume's maps...

THE END OF THE HONEYMOON: PENAL DISCOURSE AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF PRISONERS IN THE AFTERMATH OF SOUTH AFRICA’S SECOND DEMOCRATIC ELECTION − PART 1

The years immediately following South Africa’s second democratic election, held in June 1999, were significant in that they marked the end of the “honeymoon” period which followed the country’s transition from apartheid to democracy in 1994. This article focuses on the public discourse surrounding imprisonment in South Africa during this important “post-honeymoon” period. The article traces the continued systematic violation of the basic human rights of many of those confined in South African prisons throughout the period. Part One of the article deals with the many public debates surrounding chronic prison overcrowding and its effects, whereas Part Two deals with a host of evils which beset the South African penal system at this time, including very poor conditions of detention, high levels of gang activity, the spread of HIV/AIDS, the escape of dangerous criminals from different prisons in the country, and instances of corruption and other criminal activity amongst prisoners and staff.

Serum biochemical and non-specific immune responses of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to dietary nucleotide and chronic stress.

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether supplementary nucleotide "Optimun" mitigates the adverse effects of chronic overcrowding in Oncorhynchus mykiss. Two experimental diets [control and nucleotide-supplemented (0.2%)] and two rearing densities (10 and 30kgm(-3)) were combined to have four experimental treatments. The fish were reared for 45days under different densities using different diets. At the end of the trial, FCR of the fish in higher density was significantly higher than those of the lower density. Nucleotide had no significant effects on growth performance and survival rate. Supplemented nucleotide significantly increased blood hematocrit, whereas it decreased serum total protein, total immunoglobulin (Ig) and creatinine. Overcrowding significantly increased serum glucose and total protein level and decreased serum lysozyme activity, but supplemented nucleotide produced no improvement in these items. No significant effect of overcrowding and dietary nucleotide was observed on serum cortisol. Supplemented nucleotide significantly increased serum urea under low stocking density. Overall, the results showed that 0.2% "Optimun" had no positive effects on rainbow trout and also caused some immunological and metabolic problems. These findings are not in accordance with those obtained in the same species, with same nucleotide source and level, but acute stress; thus, further studies are encouraged on this topic.

Depressive Behavior and Monoamine Contents in Brain Structures of Rats During Chronic Overcrowding.

Effects of chronic overcrowding on the development of depressive-like behavior and changes in monoamine contents in the brain structures involved in the development of depression were studied in rats. It was shown that overcrowding increased grooming duration and did not change the number of crossed squares and postures in the open-field test. In the forced swimming test, overcrowding increased immobility time and deceased the duration of the first episode of active swimming, which attested to depressive-like behavior. Overcrowding reduced the content of dopamine in the striatum, its metabolites (homovanilic and dioxyphenylacetic acids) and dopamine metabolism rate in the hypothalamus, and increased the concentrations of norepinephrine, homovanilic acid, and dioxyphenylacetic acid in the olfactory bulb and homovanilic acid in the prefrontal cortex. No changes were found in the nucleus accumbens. Serotonin content did not change in all analyzed structures. It was hypothesized that the observed changes in the content of monoamines and their metabolites in certain brain structures could underlie the depressive-like behavior induced by overcrowding in rats.

La perception de la peine d’emprisonnement entre privation et solidarité

Le but de cet article est d’analyser, compte tenu de l’évolution de la composition de la population carcérale, comment se déterminent les conditions de vie au sein de la prison italienne, avec une référence particulière aux mécanismes de solidarité et au développement des relations entre les prisonniers. Après une description des changements dans la composition de la population carcérale, l’auteur présente des entretiens biographiques portant sur la perception des conditions de vie dans une prison et sur les aspects relationnels liés à l’absence de ressources matérielles. Sans aucun doute, la surpopulation chronique qui caractérise le système pénitentiaire italien, combinée à un manque de financement stable et des ressources adéquates, a profondément affecté les conditions de vie et le bien-être des détenus. Le but est de mettre en évidence les éléments qui sont perçus comme déterminants essentiels de l’état de contrainte et de privation des détenus, en soulignant comment ces éléments influent sur l’application de la peine de prison.

HOLDING UP A MIRROR TO APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: PUBLIC DISCOURSE ON THE ISSUE OF OVERCROWDING IN SOUTH AFRICAN PRISONS 1980 TO 1984 – PART 2

During the first half of the 1980s, the issue of chronic overcrowding within the South African penal system formed part of an intense ideological struggle between those who supported and those who opposed the apartheid regime. Public debate around this issue acted as a mirror, reflecting early cracks which were beginning to appear in the edifice of apartheid. Since the prisons were the ultimate instrument of social control within the apartheid system, the ongoing crises caused by chronic overcrowding within these institutions served as a kind of “canary in the mine” for the apartheid system as a whole. The debates which took place during the early 1980s around overcrowding are also important because they form part of a common theme running through South African penal discourse as a whole. This article seeks to show how the debates on prison overcrowding which took place in the first half of the 1980s fit into a long-term pattern of recurring ideological crises surrounding this issue. The article is divided into two parts. In Part One, the above themes were explored through the public discourse surrounding the Steyn Commission of Enquiry into the public media, as well as the Hoexter Commission of Enquiry into the structure and functioning of South Africa’s courts. Whereas Part One deals only with certain early debates arising out of the Hoexter Commission – up to February 1981 – Part Two takes this as a starting point and traces a number of further themes which arose in the debates surrounding the Hoexter Commission between February 1981 and April 1984, when the Commission delivered its report.

Like a bad penny: The problem of chronic overcrowding in the prisons of colonial Natal: 1845 to 1910 (Part 2)

During recent decades, like the proverbial bad penny, the problem of chronic overcrowding has turned up over and over again to haunt South African prison administrators. As this article indicates, however, overcrowding in South African prisons is not only a recent phenomenon. Overcrowding has been a significant feature of imprisonment in South Africa from the very introduction of this form of punishment into the country. This article examines overcrowding in the prisons of colonial Natal from 1845 until 1910. Through an analysis of the official discourse surrounding this difficult problem throughout the colonial period, this article shows that imprisonment as a form of punishment in South Africa has always been inextricably bound up with the problem of overcrowding. By illustrating the deeply entrenched nature of the problem from a historical perspective, this article hopes to provide present day prison administrators with useful insights into the nature of their struggle to overcome the problem in the present. The article is in two parts. Part 1 of the article covers the period 1845 to 1875, while Part 2 covers the period 1875 to1910.

Like a bad penny: The problem of chronic overcrowding in the prisons of colonial Natal: 1845 to 1910 (Part 1)

During recent decades, like the proverbial bad penny, the problem of chronic overcrowding has turned up over and over again to haunt South African prison administrators. As this article indicates, however, overcrowding in South African prisons is not only a recent phenomenon. Overcrowding has been a significant feature of imprisonment in South Africa from the very introduction of this form of punishment into the country. This article examines overcrowding in the prisons of colonial Natal from 1845 until 1910. Through an analysis of the official discourse surrounding this difficult problem throughout the colonial period, this article shows that imprisonment as a form of punishment in South Africa has always been inextricably bound up with the problem of overcrowding. By illustrating the deeply entrenched nature of the problem from a historical perspective, this article hopes to provide present-day prison administrators with useful insights into the nature of their struggle to overcome the problem. The article is in two parts. Part 1 of the article covers the period 1845 to 1875, while Part 2 covers the period 1875 to 1910.

HOLDING UP A MIRROR TO APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: PUBLIC DISCOURSE ON THE ISSUE OF OVERCROWDING IN SOUTH AFRICAN PRISONS 1980 TO 1984 – PART 1

During the first half of the 1980s, the issue of chronic overcrowding within the South African penal system formed part of an intense ideological struggle between those who supported and those who opposed the apartheid regime. Public debate around this issue acted as a mirror, reflecting early cracks which were beginning to appear in the edifice of apartheid. Since the prisons were the ultimate instrument of social control within the apartheid system, the ongoing crises caused by chronic overcrowding within these institutions served as a kind of “canary in the mine” for the apartheid system as a whole. The debates which took place during the early 1980s around overcrowding are also important because they form part of a common theme running through South African penal discourse as a whole. This article seeks to show how the debates on prison overcrowding which took place in the first half of the 1980s fit into a long term pattern of recurring ideological crises surrounding this issue.

Punishment in Europe: A Critical Anatomy of Penal Systems edited by V.Ruggiero and M.Ryan (Eds.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (2013) 304pp. £55.00hb ISBN 978‐1‐137‐02820‐4

Comparing penal systems is a complex and messy endeavour. Collecting, collating and comparing data from different countries, some with more than one jurisdiction, is fraught with difficulty. So the editors of this collection, while recognising that some countries will share common trends, gave contributors the opportunity to ‘focus more on national peculiarities rather than across the broad commonalities’ (p.5, italics in original). This has paid rich dividends. With chapters by scholars from twelve jurisdictions examining penal systems from the Republic of Ireland in the west to Russia in the east, we learn about each jurisdiction's penal history, prison system, alternative sanctions, juvenile justice and wider criminal justice and social systems. Many of the peculiarities relate to the influences of the past and political culture on the development of penal policy. Examples include Italy, which in the post-war period had many former prisoners (including two who became president) building the new legal system. It had ‘amnesty after amnesty’ and the passing of the ‘penitentiary law’ in 1975 promoted ‘treatment’ over ‘punishment’. Spain emerged from fascist rule after Franco's death in 1975, determined to model its criminal justice system on democratic principles, abolishing capital punishment and torture, and declaring rehabilitation as the objective of punishment. The chapter on Poland explains that criminology was banned in the Eastern bloc; no need for such a discipline, with time simply needed to end crime and get rid of those with bourgeois vices. Russia is marked out by its ‘penal history, and arising from that, its penal geography’ making it ‘like none other in the entire world’ (Piacentini, p.159). Despite a shift towards a more punitive discourse on crime and punishment, due to its embedded welfare state model, Sweden still has one of the lowest imprisonment rates in the world. While this book has not attempted to follow Cavadino and Dignan (2006) in creating a comparative typology, commonalities exist. Overcrowding is one of them. In the Netherlands, the principle of one person per cell was abandoned due to an increase in prison numbers, leading to more austere conditions; the French prison system is characterised by chronic overcrowding, as are, to a greater or lesser extent, prison systems in England and Wales, Italy, Poland, Russia, Republic of Ireland and Spain. This has mainly occurred due to lack of investment in the penal estate and longer sentences leading to an increased prison population. Ruggiero (p.289) in an interesting conclusion, points out that it is now ‘common practice to punish individuals who belong to specific groups because of an actuarial calculus indicating them as more likely to offend and re-offend’. The book demonstrates in stark detail the disproportionate levels of punishment of immigrant populations, the marginalised and socially excluded. In Italy, over 36% of the prison population is non-Italian. In Sweden, foreign prisoners comprise 28% of the prison population, although it has remained relatively stable over the last decade. In Greece, over a twelve-year period, non-nationals increased from one-quarter to more than one-half of the prison population. In England and Wales, ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented in the prison system with almost 26% of the prison population from black, Asian and minority (BME) groups. In Bulgaria, between a third and a half of the prison population are Roma and in the Republic of Ireland, multiple forms of socio-economic disadvantage are found among those in prison. In his introduction, Mick Ryan argues that it is imperative to develop ‘a more critical and accessible public criminology that goes beyond the academy to embrace wider social movements’ (p.6, italics in original). It is essential to move ‘beyond the parameters of conventional penal discourse’ to ‘build (and sustain) public support for progressive penal change’. The scholarship produced in this book will be of interest to those within, and outside, the academy. It enhances our understanding of contemporary penal systems in Europe and underlines the urgent need for progressive penal change.

Anxiety Level and Body Weight Changes in Rats Living in Overpopulated Cages

Behavioral indicators of anxiety and body weight dynamics were compared in rats kept under standard conditions (4-5 animals per cage) and in overpopulated cages (17 rats per cage). The behavior of rats exposed to overcrowding for a short and long period was evaluated in the open field, light-darkness, and elevated plus-maze tests. The anxiety parameters of animals increased only in the light-darkness test during the acute period of overcrowding and in all tests during chronic overcrowding. Behavioral tests had a negative impact on body weight gain in controls and rats living in overpopulated cages. If the behavioral tests were carried out at the beginning of the experiment, body weight ceased to increase in animals exposed to overcrowding and continued to increase in the controls. Overcrowding without behavioral tests had no effects on the body weight dynamics. The model of chronic (but not acute) overcrowding may be used for evaluation of anxiolytic effects of drugs.

Madness in Buenos Aires: Patients, Psychiatrists, and the Argentine State, 1880-1983

In Madness in Buenos Aires, Jonathan Ablard convincingly demonstrates that Argentine psychiatric institutions were not the agents of social control that Foucauldian scholars have maintained they were in Europe and the United States. While Argentina had the most developed system of mental hospitals in Latin America, according to Ablard a weak state limited these institutions' policing and coercive functions. Buenos Aires's two main hospitals, the Hospital Nacional de Alienadas (for women) and the Hospicio de las Mercedes (for men) attempted to replicate European psychiatric practice, including even having an equal percentage of the national population interned. Nonetheless, lack of funds, ineffective administration, chronic overcrowding, bureaucratic incompetence and the absence of proper legal controls made Buenos Aires's hospitals places where patients were more often neglected than captured by a ‘clinical gaze’. The book is based on meticulous use of primary and secondary sources and is divided into five chapters plus an introduction and conclusion. Chapters 2 to 5 cover the period between 1900 and 1946 and are a comprehensive history of the development and misfortunes of Buenos Aires's two hospitals. These chapters are made compelling by Ablard's skilful use of case histories to illustrate diagnosis, treatment and legal problems of the patients. The last chapter of the book deals with the changes in psychiatry from the time of Perón until the end of the military dictatorship in 1983. Argentina prided itself on its modernity and large European population, yet the conditions that existed in the two Buenos Aires hospitals were similar to those in other Latin American manicomios. In the first decades of the twentieth century, patients often lacked adequate food, clothing and even beds, to say nothing of medical attention. In the early 1930s, the women's hospital had over 3,000 patients in facilities designed for 1,900 and in 1935 the men's asylum had a population of 2,580, more than twice its capacity.

Chronic overcrowding decreases cytoplasmic free calcium levels in T lymphocytes of aged CBA/CA mice.

Intracellular calcium concentration is a sensitive marker of the homeostasis of living cells, and its increase is an essential step of T lymphocyte activation. Changes in the environment provoke an adaptive stress-response of the organism. In our present work we have investigated the effect of chronic overcrowding on resting and lectin-stimulated cytoplasmic free calcium concentration of splenic T lymphocytes from young and aged CBA/CA mice (50 animals total). The animals were kept under 'normal' (68 cm2/animal) or 'overcrowded' (22 cm2/animal) conditions for 3 months. Young animals showed no change in resting and stimulated calcium after overcrowding. T cells from aged mice, however, displayed significantly smaller levels of both resting and lectin-stimulated intracellular calcium concentration (p < 0.01 each), as compared to those of the non-stressed, aged animals. This inadequate adaptation in the calcium metabolism of T lymphocytes may significantly contribute to the diminished immune response of the aged in stress.