Effects of hypophysectomy on behavior in rats: I. Preliminary survey.

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Abstract
Male rats hypophysectomized at the age of 40 days built larger and superior heat-conserving nests than normal controls of the same age under conditions of night temperatures ranging from 48[degree] to 64[degree] F. They were slightly inferior to the controls in learning two medium-difficult swimming mazes, but were not significantly inferior in learning an elevated narrow-tread maze. This study shows that hypophysectomized rats are sufficiently active and hardy to undergo many of the laboratory tests ordinarily imposed upon normal rats in studies of innate responses, drive, learning, discrimination, and problem solving.