Effect of Emotional Stress, Anesthesia, and Death on Body Temperature of Mice Exposed to Gold

The effects of social stimuli on the response to stress.

“…Whether the pituitary-adrenal response to psychological (nonphysical) stress has survival value for the organism can be questioned. Experiments by Bartlett and others (Bartlett, Bohr, Helmendach, Foster, & Miller, 1954;Bartlett, Helmendach, & Bohr, 1953;Bartlett, Helmendach, & Inman, 1954) showed that animals subjected to emotional stress (restraint) and extreme cold were unable to maintain body temperature, which fell almost as rapidly as that of dead animals, whereas animals subjected to cold alone could maintain temperature reasonably well. In short, it would appear that emotional stress or excitement has an additive effect (Lavenda, Bartlett, & Kennedy, 1956), accelerating depletion of the body's vital protein and carbohydrate stores when the organism is already under physical stress.…”

“…Another method of getting at the effect of social stimuli on the response to stress is suggested by the experiments of Bartlett et al (1953Bartlett et al ( , 1954 referred to above. It can be hypothesized that body temperature under extreme cold or heat can be better maintained in a group of persons with a previous history of interaction, compared to a group without such experience, since the emotional component of these stress agents would be reduced or eliminated for 5s in the first group.…”

The Adrenal Cortex in Restraint Hypothermia and in Adaptation to the Stress of Restraint

“…From qualitative observations several investigators [Sinelnikoff, 1929;Grant, 1950;Bartlett Jr. et al 1953, 1954 have suggested that there may be an emotional factor in the production of hypothermia by restraint, and it has been quanti¬ tatively demonstrated that the more emotional animals show greater hypothermia when exposed to the stress of restraint in the cold [Bartlett Jr., Bohr, Helmandach, Foster & Miller, 1954]. If restraint, as suggested by these observations, is at least partially a psychological stress it could be reasoned that a psychological adapta¬ tion may also be involved in longer term responses to the stress.…”

Ability of Rat to Adapt to Stress of Light Restraint.

“…In previous reports the phenomenon of thermoinstability induced by light restraint in the cold (i.e., restraint hypothermia) has been observed ( 1,2). It has also been demonstrated that the emotionality of the animals is correlated with their ability ta maintain body temperature while restrained in the cold, i.e., the more emotional the animal the greater the drop in body temperature( 3-5).…”