Effect of immobilization and cold stress on visual evoked potentials

The main aim of our research was to study the effects of immobilization and/or cold stress on amplitudes and latencies of visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). Forty healthy male albino rats, aged three months, were used. The rats were equally divided into four groups: Control group (C), the group exposed to cold stress (CS), the group exposed to immobilization stress (IS), and the group exposed to both cold and immobilization stress (CIS). Plasma corticosterone concentrations were significantly increased in all stress groups. Lipid peroxidation was increased in brain and retina of all stress groups as indicated by the significant increase in TBARS levels compared to the C group. Glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in brain and retina increased in the CS group, but decreased in the IS group relative to the C group. GSH-Px activity also increased in the brain, but not in the retina in the CIS group with respect to the C group. The mean latencies of P1, N1, P2, N2, and P3 components were significantly prolonged in all stress groups compared with the C group. The results suggest that stress induced lipid peroxidation may influence VEPs.