Changes in d-amphetamine elicited rotational behavior in rats exposed to uncontrollable footshock stress.
Male and female rats, selected on the basis of their rotational behavior in response to d-amphetamine, were exposed to either escapable footshock stress, inescapable footshock stress or no stress and were then given a shuttlebox escape task on the subsequent day. Following testing, the magnitude and direction of the animals' rotational responses to d-amphetamine were determined again. Inescapable footshock stress induced a selective change in the direction and intensity of rotational behavior that was dependent upon the subjects' sex and preexisting rotational bias. Right-rotating males and left-rotating females shifted their directional bias toward the opposite side, while left-rotating males and right-rotating females displayed increased rotation in their pre-stress direction. Significant correlations were also noted between the intensity of pre-stress rotational behavior and performance on the shuttlebox shock escape task. The results are discussed with respect to stress' actions on the mesocortical dopamine system and how this system's sex-dependent asymmetrical organization may subserve part of the organism's general reaction to uncontrollable stress.
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003913:Dextroamphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004597:Electroshock; D004924:Escape Reaction / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012737:Sex Factors; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000503:physiopathology
D003913:Dextroamphetamine