Honors Theses

Date of Award

2007

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

First Advisor

Kenneth Sufka

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

While there is extensive research on the effects of stress on pain perception, very few studies have been conducted on how vary ing pain intensities affect stress levels. This study was conducted to simulate this relationship by using carrageenan-induced inflammatory nociception to quantify its effect on the stress measures of social separation stress devocaJizations (dVocs) and body temperature in 6-7 day old domestic fowl chicks. Nociception was induced 2 hours prior to the stress test, via intraplantar injection of carrageenan at either 0 %, 0.125%, 0.25%, or 0.5%, and was measured directly after the stress test by both foot withdrawal latency (sec) to a thermal stimulus and edema scores (mL). The separation stress test employed two groups in either the isolated (high stress) or non-isolated (low stress) condition. Dependent measures were latency to vocalize (sec), total d Vocs over 180-sec, and a post-stress test body temperature measure. Results from the stress test revealed that the non-isolated groups demonstrated longer dVoc latencies and lower total dVocs at all carrageenan concentrations. Body temperature measures yielded a stress-induced hyperthermic response that was attenuated at the 0.125% carrageenan concentration in the isolated group. From the nociceptive tests, it was found that mean foot w ithdrawal latency was significantly greater in the non isolated 0 % carrageenan group than all other groups, with no significant stress or concentration effect in the other groups. Edema scores revealed significant inflammation in the 0.25 % and 0.5 % carrageenan groups in both the isolated and non-isolated condition. These results suggest that mild levels of pain tend to attenuate stress responses, while greater amounts of pain may exacerbate these stress measures.

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