PLASMA CORTICOTROPINE RELEASING HORMONE (CRH) LEVEL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WISTAR RATS EXPOSED TO ACUTE STRESS DUE TO PREDATOR AND TO THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS DEVICE

Stress triggers and causes psychiatric disorders. This study compared stress generated by different stressors: a cat as the predator of rats and a Psychological Stress Device (PSD) which was developed and modified by the researchers based on the model by Xu and Rocher. Methods: Twenty-eight Wistar rats were simple randomly divided into one control group and six treatment groups, each consisting of 4 rats. Each treatment group was individually exposed to stressor for 30, 60, and 90 minutes. The first three treatment groups were treated using the PSD while the other three treatment groups were treated exposed to the cat. Plasma CRH level was measured using the ELISA (Cusabio) method. Result: Plasma CRH levels in the rat exposed to stressor using the PSD ranged from 9.89 to 50.22 ng/mL, higher than plasma CRH level in the groups exposed to cat ranged from 0.22 to 23.44 ng/mL with significance level (p 0,05). The average of plasma CRH level in the rats exposed to the PSD for 30, 60, and 90 minutes were 14.83, 28.19, and 36 respectively. 14 ng/mL while in the groups exposed to cats were 11.53, 7.81, and 4.97 ng/mL respectively. The increase of plasma CRH level had positive correlation with the length of exposure to stressor in the group treated with the PSD (r=0.895, p of 0.05) while plasma CRH level in the group exposed to cat did not correlate with the length of exposure (r=-0.043, p 0.05). Conclusion: Plasma CRH level of the rats exposed to stressor using the PSD was higher and positively correlate with the length of exposure compared to those exposed to cat