Effect of Cold Stress on Neurobehavioral and Physiological Parameters in Rats

Abstract

Objective: Cold stress is an important current issue and implementing control strategies to limit its sometimes harmful effects is crucial. Cold is a common stressor that can occur in our work and our occupational or leisure time activities every day. There are substantial studies on the effects of chronic stress on memory and behavior, although, the cognitive changes and anxiety disorders that can occur after exposure to chronic intermittent cold stress are not completely characterized. Therefore, the present study was undertaken with an aim to investigate the effects of chronic intermittent cold stress on body weight, food intake and working memory, and to elucidate cold stress related anxiety disorders using cognitive and behavioral test batteries.Methods: We generated a cold stress model by exposing rats to chronic intermittent cold stress for 5 consecutive days and in order to test for the potential presence of sex differences, a comparable number of male and female rats were tested in the current study. Then, we measured the body weights, food intake and the adrenal glands weight. Working memory and recognition memory were assessed using the Y maze and the Novel Object Recognition (NOR) tasks. While, sex differences in the effects of chronic stress on behavior were evaluated by the elevated plus maze (EPM), open field maze (OF), and Marble burying (MB) tests.Results: We found that 2 h exposure to cold (4°C) resulted in an increase in the relative weight of the adrenal glands in male rats. Given the same chronic stress 5 days of cold exposure (2 h per day), increased weight gain in male rats, while females showed decreased food intake and no change in body weight. Both sexes successfully performed the Y maze and object recognition (OR) tasks, indicating intact spatial working memory performance and object recognition abilities in both male and female rats. In addition, we have shown that stress caused an increase in the level of anxiety in male rats. In contrast, the behavior of the female rats was not affected by cold exposure.Conclusion: Overall, the current results provide preliminary evidence that chronic intermittent cold stress model may not be an efficient stressor to female rats. Females exhibit resilience to cold exposure that causes an increase in the level of anxiety in male rats, which demonstrates that they are affected differently by stress and the gender is an important consideration in experimental design.

Anxiolytic Effect of Satureja montana Dry Extract and its Active Compounds Rosmarinic Acid and Carvacrol in Acute Stress Experimental Model

“…The following methods belong to these groups: deprivation from essential for survival food, water and sleep, limitations of free research behavior, exposure to unfavorable environmental conditions and pain stimuli [33]. It is well known that exposure to low temperatures activates systems, mediating the body's response to stress and is associated with anxiety in male rats [34,35]. In accordance with the literature data acute cold stress model was chosen for inducing the anxiety behavior in our research.…”

Поведенческие Параметры Крыс Линии Wistar Под Влиянием Низких Температур В Тесте «открытое Поле»

“…Моделирование адаптации к низким температурам окружающей среды проводилось путѐм наложения на тело в область мошонки наполненной льдом груши на протяжении 5 дней по схеме Х. Э. Марзуки, предложенной в 2021 году [6].…”

“…Стрессом называют совокупность изменений, появляющихся в организме под давлением различных повреждающих агентов, а также активацию приспособительных механизмов, способствующих привыканию к меняющимся условиям среды [6]. Стрессовый фактор способен оказывать влияние не только на морфологическую структуру, но и на физиологические и поведенческие характеристики, как животных, так и людей.…”

“…В последнее время важной причиной возникновения стресса считают низкие температуры окружающей среды [6]. Такие климатические условия служат одним из опасных производственных факторов, обуславливающих появление холодового стресса.…”

Effect of methanol aqueous extract of Satureja montana and two of its bioactive components on memory in rats

“…Exposure to increased levels of acute or chronic stress affects cognitive function [1]. From available scientific literature, it is known that acute stress activates areas regulating responses of a predominantly adaptive nature that are important for survival [2].…”