[Changes in adrenergic nerve plexuses of the heart during immobilization stress in the rat]

Luminescent microscopical analysis on the state of the cardiac adrenergic neural apparatus under immobilization stress has been performed in 48 rats of August and Wistar strains. The rats of August strain demonstrate a high sensitivity to the stress: 40% of the animals died during the first 4-17 h of immobilization. Cryostate sections are treated in 2% glyoxylic acid and studied in the luminescent microscope. Quantitative analysis of density distribution of the adrenergic neural terminals is performed by means of dot nets. Decreasing luminescent brightness and decreasing density by 10-15% are noted in the right auricle, and by 30-34%--in the left ventricle, comparing to that of the control. In the animals died a sudden death these parameters are even stronger (28% and 54%, respectively). The data obtained correlate to the functional disturbances of the heart activity (fluctuations of the arterial pressure, disturbances of the rhythm, ECG changes). A suggestion is made that catecholamines content in the neural terminals of the heart is of certain importance in development of the cardiovascular disturbances under immobilization stress.