Effects of heat-stress on behavior and the pituitary adrenal axis in rats

Three experiments were performed in order to analyse the behavioral and biochemical correlates of four different intensities of the same stressor. In Experiment 1, rats were exposed to heat stress (hot-plate) of varying temperatures for 30 seconds. Activity was recorded in an open field immediately after stress for 30 minutes. The data revealed that the milder temperatures increased (21, 47, 52 degrees C), while the higher temperature (57 degrees C) decreased activity. Experiment 2 assessed the pituitary-adrenal response to the different temperatures by measuring levels of plasma corticosterone 30 minutes after stress. The four levels of hot-plate temperatures induced differential levels of corticosterone which may best be described as an inverted U-shaped function, with only the extreme temperature (57 degrees) inducing a significant elevation in levels of the steroid. Experiment 3 further manipulated the pituitary adrenal axis by administering dexamethasone 25 hr and 1 hr before stress and ACTH 15 min before stress. Both affected activity levels by depressing locomotion regardless of the stress intensity. These results are compared to other studies that have addressed the question of stress-induced activation and it is suggested that stress is not a unitary concept, but interacts with the performance of certain behaviors to produce both facilatory or inhibitory results.