The influence of various modes of involuntary locomotion and sleep deprivation on the stress triad’s formation in rats and their survival

The study of how sleep deficit and adverse factors of the labor process influence on the stress-realizing and stress-limiting body systems is underway. Purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of various modes of sleep deprivation in forced rotation wheels on the stress triad’s formation in rats, and on their survival. The research methodology was carried out in outbred male rats placed in an automatic installation of 8 wheels, 25 cm in diameter, with a control unit that allows to set time, frequency (1–13 rpm), and direction (clockwise or counterclockwise) of rotation. At the end of deprivation, rats were euthanized, a necropsy was performed, thymus and adrenal glands were collected for gravimetric studies. The number of the stomach erosions and ulcers was counted, and the Pauls index was determined using standard methods. The stomach wall’s fragments with erosive and ulcerative lesions were harvested for a subsequent microscopy. The study showed that in the 24-hour sleep deprivation mode with a wheel speed of 7 rpm, and 2-day sleep deprivation with a wheel speed of 5 rpm, the animals tolerated the procedure well. At the same time, imbalance indices of mass coefficients of the stress-realizing system organs, the presence of gastric erosions suggested the formation of a classical stress triad. The wheel speed increase (above 9 rpm) in modes of 1- and 2-day sleep deprivation (above 7 rpm) led to the animals’ fatigue, defatigation up to death, with morphological signs of a progressive tissue damage (numerous stomach ulcers complicated by bleeding, signs of heart and liver hypoxia). Occupational stress modeling in an automatic installation with a control unit, under specific conditions, realizes characteristic behavioral effects in rats, with the formation of a stress triad. An increase in the sum of stressors leads to pathological effects in the rats’ behavior with borderline and irreversible tissue damage.