Effects of reserpine and chlorpromazine on rats subjected to experimental stress

Male Wistar rats were subjected to a variable stress program 6 days per week, 4 hours per day. The blood pressure of all animals markedly increased with the peak pressor response occurring during the 11th week. There was no significant difference between the blood pressures of rats receiving saline, 1.0 ml/kg, i.p.; reserpine phosphate, 0.1 mg/kg, i.p.; and chlorpromazine hydrochloride, 4 mg/kg, i.p. Both compounds not only failed to decrease the pressor effects induced by the stressors but also appeared to potentiate the lethal effects of the Stressors. Reserpine increased mortality to stress by over 200% and chlorpromazine increased the mortality rate by approximately 100%. All stressed animals dying during the experiment demonstrated marked vacuolization of the three layers of the adrenal cortex with severe congestion of the sinusoids of the zona reticularis. The reserpine treated animals also demonstrated possible necroses of the outer layers of the zona fasciculata.