In rats, giving the peptide delta‑sleep‑inducing peptide (DSIP) changes key stress‑related chemicals like substance P, beta‑endorphin and cortisol. The changes depend on when DSIP is given and are stronger in a strain of rats that handles stress better (Wistar) than in a more stress‑sensitive strain (August).

The aim of this study is to investigate time-related changes in substance P (SP), beta-endorphin (BE), and corticosterone (CORT) levels due to DSIP aftereffects in the control and stress rats. Experiments were carried out on male Wistar and August rats. The SP and BE immunoreactivity in the hypothalamus and plasma samples was determined radioimmunologically. Blood CORT level was determined radioimmunologically. The rats were stressed at nighttime in special cages and tied by tails to the back side of the cage. The stress experiments were repeated for 12 hours for 5 days. There were 6 groups: 1. control animals, 2. stress animals, 3. rats that received DSIP in a dose of 60 nmol/kg one hour before decapitation, 4. rats in which DSIP was injected 24 hour before decapitation, 5. stressed rats in which DSIP was injected one hour before decapitation during the 5th exposure to stress, 6. stressed rats to which DSIP was injected 12 hours before the 5th exposure to stress, i.e., 24 hours before decapitation. Our experiments showed that DSIP administration induced marked changes in SP, BE, and CORT levels in hypothalamus and blood plasma. This suggests that the long-term stress-coping effect of DSIP depends on considerable changes in the level of other oligopeptides and hormones induced by DSIP. Evidently, DSIP triggers these processes inducing a cascade of interrelated molecular reactions radically different in animals with different resistance to emotional stress. This cascade of sequential reactions is different in Wistar and August rats differing by their resistance to emotional stress. DSIP administration stimulates the mechanism of resistance in August rats to a lesser extent than in Wistar animals.