THE OPEN-FIELD TEST AS A PREDICTIVE CRITERION OF RESISTANCE TO EMOTIONAL-STRESS IN WISTAR RATS

The open field test was studied as a predictive behavioural criterion of resistance to emotional stress. Emotional stress mas induced in Wistar rats by Immobilization with simultaneous electrical skin stimulation 3 days after behavioural testing. Severity of stress was evaluated by the rate of survival and changes in the weight of thymus and adrenals. Rats which displayed longer latencies of the first movement in the open field and of crossing the central areas, lower locomotor and exploratory activity, higher rate of defecation had lower survival rate and more pronounced adrenal hypertrophy in stress.