[Morphological manifestations of acute stress reactions in the adrenal cortex of hypokinetic rats].

Adrenal changes in response to an acute stress-effect (5 h-immobilization stress) were investigated in female rats exposed to hypokinesia for 3 months. The rate of delipoidization in the adrenal cortex increased in the rats exposed to an acute stress after short-term (1-2 weeks) hypokinesia. The process of delipoidization did not advance in the rats exposed to an acute stress in the course of prolonged (2-3 months) hypokinesia. This does not yet prove the lack of the stress reaction but gives evidence that during prolonged hypokinesia the adrenals develop the capacity to react to an additional effect without the entire complex of morphological signs typical of an acute stress reaction. The immobilization test used to assess the state of the adrenal cortex has shown that it does not deteriorate even during 3-month hypokinesia (in this study).