Psychosomatic Medicine 34:441-448 (1972)
© 1972 American Psychosomatic Society

Thyroid (Plasma BEI) Response to Chair Restraint in the Monkey

¹ Department of Neuroendocrinology, Division of Neuropsychiatry, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC 20012

Address for reprint requests: John W. Mason, MD, Department of Neuroendocrinology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC 20012.

Study of a series of 26 rhesus monkeys revealed significant elevations of plasma butanol extractable iodine (BEI) levels persisting through a 6-day period of chair restraint. There was a mean BEI increase from a control baseline of 3.2 µg% to a peak of 5.1 µg% on the third day of chair restraint. Study of 14 of these monkeys throughout a longer period of 8 weeks of chair restraint indicated that, although duration of response varied considerably between monkeys, mean BEI levels remained significantly elevated through the third week. BEI levels during the second month of chair restraint do not differ significantly from those levels observed in the same monkeys while housed in cages prior to chair restraint. This evidence of thyroid response to an unconditioned emotional stimulus supports findings in previous work with a conditioned emotional stimulus indicating that acute emotional arousal elicits stimulation of the pituitary-thyroid system in the rhesus monkey.