The impact of stress and discomfort on experimental outcome

Stress refers to a physiological and emotional state of man and higher animals in which the autonomic regulation is overstrained and temporarily disturbed under the impact of conflicting stimuli. Stress activates, invigorates, acts life-sustaining, and initiates and drives adaptive changes towards improved fitness. While the positive action is commonly underestimated, much attention is given to the discomfort and the strain of efforts required during coping. The label of stress as being bad and the core of suffering has been applied with particular empathy to laboratory animals, for they are kept in captivity and are exposed to experimental procedures. The husbandry conditions to which the animals are adapted are commonly standardized. This applies to procedures for subacute and chronic toxicity testing. Acute toxicity tests are the classical example of stress research in which the demands on the organism exceed the limits of its regulative capacity. Stressors are: the test compound, the procedure proper and preceding treatment of the animal. The experimental stress contributes to model the real situation. The weighting between the stressors may modify the outcome of the test.