Relationship of Oxygen Consumption to Body Temperature in the Restrained Rat

Abstract

Forty adult Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups: 10 control and 10 restrained animals at room temperature [Formula: see text] and 10 control and 10 restrained animals at [Formula: see text]. Continuous recordings were made on oxygen consumption and body temperature. It was learned that the restrained animals had an initially higher oxygen consumption than the control animals. This gradient was maintained throughout a three-hour exposure in the case of the animals maintained at room temperature but in the case of the animals maintained in the cold it was reversed early in the tests, i.e., the oxygen consumption of the restrained animals fell below that of the control animals. The fall in oxygen consumption was accompanied by a fall in body temperature. From the data it was not possible to state which was the cause and which was the effect. It was suggested that both decreased oxygen consumption and temperature drop may be the effect of another cause, emotionality or emotional stress.