Abstract
In order to examine the susceptibility of Brattleboro rats to self-starvation and activity stress, as evidenced by ulcer formation, four conditions were studied: (1) ad-lib access to food and water in an individual home cage, (2) ad-lib access to food and water in an activity-wheel cage, (3) ad-lib access to water and 1-h access to food in an individual home cage, and (4) ad-lib access to water and 1-h access to food each day in an activity-wheel cage. In the first two conditions, neither Brattleboro nor control animals developed ulcers. In the third condition, some rats in each group developed pits in the glandular portion of the stomach. Significant differences appeared in the fourth condition. Brattleboro rats developed more stomach pathology in both the nonglandular and glandular portions of the stomach than controls. The results were not due to variations in running behavior. The data indicate that the lack of vasopressin or physiological results of this deficit render Brattleboro rats more sensitive to self-starvation and activity stress than control animals.
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Murphy, H.M., Wideman, C.H. Self-starvation and activity stress in Brattleboro rats. Psychobiology 11, 209–213 (1983). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326797
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326797