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Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Restraint to Induce Stress in Mice and Rats
Published on: December 6, 2024
The insular cortex modulates cardiovascular responses to acute restraint stress in rats
Fernando H F Alves1, Carlos C Crestani, Fernando M A Corrêa
1Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP 14049-900, Brazil.
Abstract:
Acute restraint is an unavoidable stress situation that evokes marked and sustained cardiovascular changes, which are characterized by blood pressure and heart rate increases. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that insular cortex mediates cardiovascular responses to acute restraint stress in rats. To that purpose, the insular cortex synaptic transmission was inhibited by bilateral microinjection of the nonselective synaptic blocker cobalt chloride (CoCl2, 1 mM/100 nL). Insular cortex pretreatment with CoCl2 decreased restraint-evoked pressor and tachycardiac responses, thus indicating an involvement of synapses within the insular cortex on the modulation of cardiovascular responses to restraint stress. The present results indicate that insular cortex synapses exert a facilitatory influence on blood pressure and HR increase evoked by acute restraint stress in rats.
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