Adrenocortical and behavioral responses to repeated stressors: toward an animal model of chronic stress and stress-related mental illness - PubMed (original) (raw)

J E Ottenweller et al. Biol Psychiatry. 1989 Dec.

Abstract

Research in chronic stress has been hampered by the absence of an operational definition for that condition. To explore possible criteria for chronic stress, we repeatedly exposed rats to 2 hr of tail shock per day. After several days, we found elevated prestress corticosterone levels and abnormal behavior, including decreased food consumption, fear-like suppression of activity immediately before stress, greater hesitancy to drop from a suspended wire, and decreased exploratory behavior in a novel environment. A less intensely stressed group of rats also had elevated prestress corticosterone levels, but not the abnormal behaviors that persisted in shocked rats after the stress sessions were discontinued. We propose that abnormalities in both adrenocortical function and behavior are a better marker for chronic stress than abnormalities in either of these systems alone. The animal model we have described may be useful for studying factors that contribute to development of chronic stress or PTSD.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources