Coping with the Forced Swim Stressor: Towards Understanding an Adaptive Mechanism

Figure 2

(a) Left panel shows % immobility during the last 5 min of the 15 min initial test of SHAM and adrenalectomised (ADX) animals. (b) Right panel shows the effects of various steroids, given 15 min after the initial swimming exposure, on retention of acquired immobility of ADX rats during the 5 minutes retest period. Data are expressed as mean ± the standard error of the mean as % immobility time. Dashed lines represent the % immobility of SHAM (74,8%) and ADX (30,7%) rats. Fifty ADX and 33 sham rats were used in these experiments. Six animals were used per different dosages of dexamethasone, cortisol, RU38362, and progesterone. Post hoc comparisons following a significant ANOVA revealed that the groups treated with DEX (5 and 10 μg), RU28362 (10 and 100 μg), and cortisol (500 and 5000 μg) differed significantly from ADX but not from sham rats. For more information on these data we refer to [11].

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