Effects of Ionizing Radiation and Restraint Stress on Activity, Avoidance Conditioning, and Stomach Ulcers in Albino Rats.
Abstract
In an experiment with albino rats, we have tried to model a nuclear attack scenario in which military personnel receiving 600 to 800 rads of ionizing radiation would be making a counterattack under the stress of an emergency situation. We used a dose of radiation that, though higher than the human exposure field, was estimated to be its physiological equivalent. Restraining the rat in an immobile position, a technique previously shown to have stressing qualities for rats, was chosen as an analogy to the stress of being in a war emergency. Activity and conditioned avoidance acquisition were chosen as test responses. Performance in the activity maze was affected only to a minor degree and in the direction of considering irradiation as activating. However, all irradiated groups showed retarded conditioned avoidance acquisition, which can be interpreted as decreased adaptability to a stressful situation. Further, our results support the expectation of performance decrements in the military scenario that could not be predicted by considering ionizing radiation in isolation. On the avoidance task, male rats in the combination stress-irradiation condition showed more failures to respond and longer response latencies than any other group. Female rats, on the other hand, showed shorter escape/avoidance latencies in the combined stress-irradiation condition than in the irradiation condition alone. This sex difference may be useful as a clue for investigating mechanisms of radiation resistance and interactions between stressors.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1984
- Accession Number
- ADA141515
Entities
People
- D. W. Blick
- J. Lanum
- M. E. Campbell
- S. A. Koger
- T. G. Wheeler