Stress responses of rats with septal lesions.

Rats which had received septal lesions or underwent control surgery were exposed to stress in four experiments. We examined plasma corticosterone (Experiment 1), gastric ulceration (Experiment 2), motor activity (Experiment 3) and whole brain norepinephrine (Experiment 4) following 3 hours of prone-restraint-stress conditions at 21 degrees C or 5 degrees C. Rats with special lesions had higher steroids, less severe ulceration, greater motor activity and higher brain norepinephrine than controls following stress. Changes in hyperemotionality and differences in coping strategies are discussed.