Differences in behavioral patterns and resistance to stress-induced gastric ulceration between August and Wistar rats adapted and unadapted to hypoxia

The incidence of gastric ulceration induced by acute emotional stress in Wistar rats is 3 times higher than in August rats, and the mean number of gastric ulcers in Wistar rats 6.3-fold surpassed that in August rats. Wistar rats predisposed to stress-induced ulceration displayed suppressed locomotor and exploratory activities in the open field test, while August rats had more stable behavioral patterns and enhanced exploratory activity after stress. Short-term preadaptation to hypobaric hypoxia for 6 days attenuated stress-induced gastric ulceration, whereas long-term adaptation (40 days) aggravated the severity of gastric ulcers in August and Wistar rats. The interstrain differences in stress-induced ulceration persisted after adaptation. The data suggest that these differences are related to genetically determined peculiarities of production and metabolism of NO and glucocorticoids in August and Wistar rats. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 128, No. 12, pp. 638–641, December, 1999