THE EFFECT OF HOUSING CONDITIONS AND SIMPLE EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES UPON THE CORTICOSTERONE LEVEL IN THE PLASMA OF RATS

in Journal of Endocrinology
Authors:
A. M. BARRETT
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M. A. STOCKHAM
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SUMMARY

The concentration of corticosterone in the plasma of rats has been determined by a spectrophotofluorimetric method.

Animals housed in single cages, undisturbed for 18 hr. prior to testing show reproducible levels of 5·5 μg./100 ml. plasma. Rats housed in groups of 20 under the same conditions exhibit mean levels of 9·5 μg./100 ml.

Non-specific stimuli such as environmental change, noise, handling, weighing and intraperitoneal injections all produce marked increases in plasma corticosterone levels which remain supernormal for at least 2 hr.

The variation in the literature reports of 'resting' plasma corticosterone levels is discussed in the light of the present findings.

 

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