Stress of Immobilization: Description and Validation of a Restraining Technique for Rats

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Abstract
Various techniques have been developed over the past several years to study the effects of the stress of immobilization on the rat. The technique proposed in this paper provides effective restraint. It has the added advantage that potentially contaminating effects of uncontrolled secondary stressors are limited. The technique was tested in five groups of rats which were subjected to 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 periods of immobilization, respectively, each lasting 12 hr. with 12-hr. intermittent rest periods. Results attested to the effectiveness of the technique in that, when compared to appropriate controls, an hypertrophy of the adrenals and the testicles was observed, accompanied by concomitant losses of whole body weight, in the experimental animals. The treatment had no effect on the thymus, and no gastric ulcers were produced. The relative mildness of the effects is interpreted less as a sign of the inadequacy of the technique than as an indication that not all parameters were examined during the periods of immobilization.