Impact of differential housing on humoral immunity following exposure to an acute stressor in rats

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of differential housing on humoral immunity following exposure to an acute stressor. Forty male Sprague-Dawley adult rats were randomly assigned to either a singly housed or group-housed (five rats/cage) condition. Approximately 2 weeks after the start of the study, all animals were immunized with 1 ml of a 10% suspension of sheep red blood cells (SRBC) in saline. After the injections, half of the animals from each housing condition were subjected to an acute stressor (forced swim, 60 min/day for 3–5 days). Animals exposed to the acute stressor displayed adrenal gland hypertrophy and reduced thymus and spleen weights compared to the unstressed (control) animals. Both behavioral stimuli (housing and forced swim) demonstrated no effect on antibody production to SRBC. However, singly housed animals showed an increase in lymphocyte percentage, and corticosterone and glucose levels regardless of subsequent exposure to acute stress. Within a treatment condition, there were no significant correlations between the immune and endocrine measures. It was concluded that reduced social contact (i.e., individual housing) with subsequent exposure to an acute stressor does not appear to inhibit immunological responsiveness to an antigen.