Effects of Repeated Cold Stress on Feeding, Avoidance Behavior, and Pain-Related Nerve Fiber Activity

The specific alternation of rhythm in temperature (SART), which is defined as rapid and frequent changes in the environmental temperature several times within the course of a day, produces abnormalities in behavior such as hyperphagia and in sensory sensation such as hyperalgesia. As the first step...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physiology & behavior 1997-10, Vol.62 (4), p.849-855
Main Authors: Kawanishi, Chiemi, Fukuda, Masaji, Tamura, Ryoi, Nishijo, Hisao, Ono, Taketoshi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Animals
Avoidance behavior
Avoidance Learning - physiology
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Cold Temperature
Disease Models, Animal
Feeding
Feeding Behavior - physiology
Footshock
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Male
Nerve Fibers - physiology
Nociceptor
Pain - physiopathology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Rat
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Repeated cold stress
Stress, Physiological - physiopathology
Time Factors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The specific alternation of rhythm in temperature (SART), which is defined as rapid and frequent changes in the environmental temperature several times within the course of a day, produces abnormalities in behavior such as hyperphagia and in sensory sensation such as hyperalgesia. As the first step toward understanding the mechanisms of these abnormalities, we studied the effects of SART stress on ingestive behavior. During the light and dark phases, the animals’ food intake increased, but their body weight gain decreased. In addition, diurnal variation in body weight also decreased. Next, we examined the behavioral and electrophysiological effects of SART stress on avoidance behavior by studying the rat’s avoidance of a noxious stimulus in the form of a footshock. The rats demonstrated hyperreactivity; the delay in escaping the footshock was decreased by SART stress. The excitability of C-fiber activity, which responds to mechanical and thermal stimuli to a single saphenous nerve, was not changed by SART stress. This suggests that the hyperreactivity in footshock avoidance and the hyperalgesia in pain response induced by SART stress are based on excessive emotionality.
ISSN:0031-9384
1873-507X
DOI:10.1016/S0031-9384(97)00248-5