Plasma catecholamine responses to acute motion stress in laboratory rats

Plasma levels of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (EPI) were measured in adult male Fischer 344 (F-344) laboratory rats exposed to acute motion stress. Two days prior to testing, rats were prepared with chronic tail artery catheters to permit remote sampling of blood from conscious, freely behaving animals. Animals remained in their home cages during the entire testing protocol. After collection of basal blood samples, cages were rotated at 45 revolutions per minute for a 10-minute period each hour for 5 consecutive hours. Additional blood samples were collected immediately after each of the 10-minute rotation stress sessions. Plasma levels of NE remained unchanged from baseline immediately following each of the rotation stress sessions. In contrast, plasma EPI increased significantly above baseline levels following each of the 5 rotation stress sessions. These data indicate that rotation stress provides a selective activation of epinephrine-containing adrenal chromaffin cells as reflected in an increase in plasma EPI but not NE. This stress model could prove valuable in examining the physiological and behavioral consequences of adrenal EPI release in freely behaving animals without the confounding effects of increases in circulating norepinephrine.