Pathophysiologic Characteristics of the Activity‐Stress Paradigm in Animal Models: Inhibitory Effect of Glucose on these Responses

This review provides a discussion of the pathophysiologic significance of animal models of the activity‐stress paradigm and the role of plasma glucose level in the appearance of physical stress responses of those models. Many research reports have demonstrated that animal models exposed to activity‐stress are useful as a “symptomatic model” of anorexia nervosa and obsessive‐compulsive disorder as well as peptic ulcer. Our findings show that a decrease in plasma glucose concentration is an important factor in determining the activity‐stress‐induced physical responses. Further investigation of the pathophysiology of activity‐stressed animal models may contribute to the development of new therapeutics for diseases such as anorexia nervosa and obsessive‐compulsive disorder.