The Cost of Adaptation to Information Loading in Mice with Various Genetic Profiles

It was found that male BALB/c and F1(C57BL/6×DBA/2) mice are able to recognize the structure of a complex food-gathering task, when modeling the information loading similar to intellectual work in humans. There were significant differences between linear and hybrid animals in the pattern of learning process formation and prevailing psychoemotional reactions that accompany information load. Factors of information loading (uncertainty of maze environment and solution of the food-gathering task) had a specific influence on the CNS and manifested in individual non-specific features. The presented experimental conditions (changes in the metabolic and functional state) revealed pronounced intergroup differences in the reaction of the functional zones of the adrenal cortex. In hybrid mice, information loading induced a significant decrease in testosterone level and thickness of the zona reticularis producing precursor hormones. This is probably due to disruption of interactions in the adrenal-thyroid system in hybrid mice, whereas in BALB/c mice, these interactions fully protect from suppression of testosterone production, the main anabolic hormone. The individual characteristics of the response to information loading can be formed as a result of unequal involvement of the psychophysiological, psychological, and autonomic systems responsible for adaptation to environmental factors.