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Effect of stressor intensity on habituation and sensitization of glucocorticoid responses in rats.

This experiment was designed to study the effect of stressor intensity on habituation/sensitization of the adrenocortical stress response in rats. Rats were given 18 shocks in 3-hr daily sessions for 8 days, and a single shock probe before the sessions was used to determine how adrenocortical responsiveness changed with repeated exposure to the stress sessions. When lower intensity shock was given, the changes in plasma corticosterone response to shock probes followed a U-shaped curve--with a response that first habituated to no-shock control levels but later returned to the same magnitude as seen on the 1st probe day. Plasma corticosterone responses in rats given higher intensity shock never habituated and instead demonstrated an increased response indicative of sensitization; a temporal delay of 1 week occurred before sensitization developed. Responsiveness to exogenous adrenocorticotropin 24 hr after the last stress session was monotonically related to the intensity of the stressor presented during the experimental sessions. These data are consistent with the rule from the habituation literature that stimulus intensity is inversely related to the magnitude of habituation. Thus the data extend the dual process theory of Groves and Thompson (1970) to an endocrine respondent. The data also suggest that an explanation as to discrepancies in the literature concerning adrenocortical response to repeated presentation of stressors may relate to differences in the stressor parameters used.