Male Sprague-Dawley rats were maintained for three weeks on one of three different diets. Two of the diets were high-cholesterol, high-fat, while the third was standard laboratory chow. Animals from each group were then given either daily 2 hr sessions of tailshock for three days, or left in their home cage. Blood samples were taken from all subjects prior to stress, and again immediately after the third stress session. Sera were separated and analyzed for total plasma cholesterol. Results indicate that total plasma cholesterol was increased in the stressed animals maintained on standard lab chow. Stressed animals in the two high cholesterol diet groups showed no cholesterol increase relative to their respective dietary controls.