Efeitos da alteração dos níveis de ansiedade no desempenho de ratos em uma tarefa de discriminação apetitiva

The plus-maze discriminative avoidance paradigm has been used to study the relationship between aversive memory and anxiety. The present study aims to verify if the elevated plus-maze can provide information about appetitive memory and anxiety, through a task motivated by food reward. Animals were allowed to explore an elevated plus-maze and received reinforcement in one of the enclosed arms. In a test session performed 24h later, in the absence of reward, rats showed preference for the previously rewarded enclosed arm over the neutral enclosed arm. The administration of diazepam and pentylenetetrazole before training induced, respectively, anxiolytic and anxiogenic effects (as evaluated by open-arm exploration). Both drugs induced amnestic effects, i.e., lack of preference for the rewarded arm in the test session. The results suggest that appetitive memory can be influenced by anxiety levels as well. The plus-maze appetitive discrimination task seems to be a useful model to investigate the relationship between memory and anxiety

Influência do ciclo estral no efeito do diazepam na ansiedade e memória de ratas

Memory and anxiety are related phenomena. Several evidences suggest that anxiety is fundamental for learnining and may facilitate or impair the memory formation process depending of the context. The majority of animal studies of anxiety and fear use only males as experimental subjects, while studies with females are rare in the literature. However, the prevalence in phobic and anxiety disorders is greater in women than in men. Moreover, it is known that gender maybe influence benzodiazepine effects, the classic drugs used for anxiety disorders treatment. In this respect, to further investigate if fear/anxiety aspects related to learning in female subjects would contribute to the study of phobic and anxiety disorders and their relationship with learning/memory processes, the present work investigates (a) the effects of benzodiazepine diazepam on female rats performance in a aversive memory task that assess concomitantly anxiety/emotionality, as the interaction between both; (b) the influence of estrous cycle phases of female rats on diazepam effects at aversive memory and anxiety/emotionality, and the interaction between both and (c) the role of hormonal fluctuations during estrous cycle phases in absence of diazepam effects in proestrus, because female rats in this phase received or not mifepristone, the antagonist of progesterone receptor, previously to the diazepam treatment. For this purpose, the plus maze discriminative avoidance task, previously validated for studies of anxiety concomitantly to learning/memory, was used. The apparatus employed is an adaptation of a conventional plus maze, with two opens arms and two closed arms, one of which presenting aversive stimulation (noise and light). The parameters used were: time in non-aversive arm compared to time in aversive and percentage of time in aversive arm on several temporal divisions, in order to evaluate memory; percentage of time in open arms, risk assessment, head dipping and end exploring to evaluate anxiety ; and distance traveled for locomotion. In experiment I, we found anxiolytic effect of diazepam only for 4 mg/kg dose, however the amnestic effect appear at a dose of 2 mg/kg. In second experiment, rats were divided in groups according estrous cycle phase (metaestrus/diestrus, proestrus e estrus). In this experiment, when we considered estrous cycle phase or diazepam treatment, the results did not demonstrate any differences in anxiety/emotionality parameters. The amnestic effects of diazepam occur in female rats in metestrus/diestrus and estrus and is absent in proestrous rats. Proestrous female rats that received mifepristone exhibited the amnestic effect of diazepam and also anxiolytic effects, that it was not previously observed in this dose. The results have demonstrated dissociation of anxiolytic and amnestic diazepam effects, not previously observed in males; the absence of amnestic effect of diazepam in proestrous phase; and the possible role of progesterone in aversive memory over diazepam effect, because the mifepristone, associated with diazepam, caused amnestic effect in proestrus

Avaliação dos efeitos do biperideno, diazepam e neuropeptídeos S sobre a memória e a ansiedade na tarefa do labirinto em T elevado em camundongos

Anxiety is an emotional phenomenon, and normally it is interpreted as an adaptative behavior front to adversities. In its pathological form, anxiety can severely affect aspects related to the personal and professional life. Studies have shown a close relationship between anxiety disorders and aversive memory processing. Considering that the pharmacotherapy of anxiety disorders is still limited, innovative anxiolytic agents are needed. In this regard, neuropeptides systems are interesting therapeutic targets to the treatment of psychopathologies. Neuropeptide S (NPS), a 20-aminoacid peptide, is the endogenous ligand of a G-protein coupled receptor (NPSR), which has been reported to evoke hyperlocomotion, awakefull states, besides anxiolysis and memory improvements in rodents. This study aimed to investigate the effects of biperiden (BPR; an amnesic drug), diazepam (DZP; an anxiolytic drug) and NPS at three distinct times: pre-training, post-training, and pre-test, in order to assess anxiety and memory process in the same animal model. The elevated Tmaze (ETM) is an apparatus derived from the elevated plus-maze test, which consists of one enclosed and two open arms. The procedure is based on the avoidance of open spaces learned during training session, in which mice were exposed to the enclosed arm as many times as needed to stay 300 s. In the test session, memory is assessed by re-exposing the mouse to the enclosed arm and the latency to enter an open arm was recorded. When injected pre-training, BPR (1 mg/kg) impaired learning and memory processing; DZP (1 and 2 mg/kg) evoked anxiolysis, but only at the dose of 2 mg/kg impaired memory; and NPS 0.1 nmol induced anxiolysis without affecting memory. Post-training injection of DZP (2 mg/kg) or BPR (1 and 3 mg/kg) did not affect memory consolidation, while the post-trainning administration of NPS 1 nmol, but not 0.1 nmol, improved memory in mice. Indeed, pre-trainning administration of NPS 1 nmol did not prevent memory impairment elicited by BPR (2 mg/kg, injected before training). In the open field test, BPR 1 mg/kg and NPS 1 nmol induced hyperlocomotion in mice. In conclusion, the proposed ETM task is practical for the detection of the anxiolytic and amnesic effects of drugs. The anxiolytic and memory enhancement effects of NPS were detected in the ETM task, and reinforce the role of NPS system as an interesting therapeutic target to the treatment of anxiety disorders

Efeitos do tratamento com lítio na memória aversiva, comportamentos relacionados à ansiedade e depressão e na expressão de BDNF em ratos

Lithium (Li) is the first choice to treat bipolar disorder, a psychiatric illness characterized by mood oscillations between mania and depression. However, studies have demonstrated that this drug might influence mnemonic process due to its neuroprotector, antiapoptotic and neurogenic effects. The use of Li in the treatment of cognitive deficits caused by brain injury or neurodegenerative disorders have been widely studied, and this drug shows to be effective in preventing or even alleviating the memory impairment. The effects of Li on anxiety and depression are controversial and the relationship of the effects of lithium on memory, anxiety and depression remain unknown. In this context, this study aims to: evaluate the effects of acute and chronic administration of lithium carbonate in aversive memory and anxiety, simultaneously, using the plus maze discriminative avoidance task (PMDAT); test the antidepressant effect of the drug through the forced swimming test (FS) and analyze brainderived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in structures related to memory and emotion. To evaluation of the acute effects, male Wistar rats were submitted to i.p. administration of lithium carbonate (50, 100 or 200 mg/kg) one hour before the training session (PMDAT) or lithium carbonate (50 or 100 mg/kg) one hour before the test session (FS). To evaluation of the chronic effects, the doses administered were 50 or 100 mg/kg or vehicle once a day for 21 days before the beginning of behavioral tasks (PMDAT and FS). Afterwards, the animals were euthanized and their brains removed and submitted to immunohistochemistry procedure to quantify BDNF. The animals that received acute treatment with 100 and 200 mg/kg of Li did not discriminated between the enclosed arms (aversive and non-aversive) in the training session of PMDAT, showing that these animal did not learned the task. This lack of discrimination was also observed in the test session, showing that the animals did not recall the aversive task. We also observed an increased exploration of the open arms of these same groups, indicating an anxiolytic effect. The same groups showed a reduction of locomotor activity, however, this effect does not seem to be related with the anxiolytic effect of the drug. Chronic treatment with Li did not promote alterations on learning or memory processes. Nevertheless, we observed a reduction of open arms exploration by animals treated with 50 mg/kg when compared to the other groups, showing an anxiogenic effect caused by this dose. This effect it is not related to locomotor alterations since there were no alterations in these parameters. Both acute and chronic treatment were ineffective in the FS. Chronic treatment with lithium was not able to modify BDNF expression in hippocampus, amygdala and pre-frontal cortex. These results suggest that acute administration of lithium promote impairments on learning in an aversive task, blocking the occurrence of memory consolidation and retrieval. The reduction of anxiety following acute treatment may have prevented the learning of the aversive task, as it has been found that optimum levels of anxiety are necessary for the occurrence of learning with emotional context. With continued, treatment the animals recover the ability to learn and recall the task. Indeed, they do not show differences in relation to control group, and the lack of alterations on BDNF expression corroborates this result. Possibly, the regimen of treatment used was not able to promote cognitive improvement. Li showed acute anxiolytic effect, however chronic administration 4 promoted the opposite effect. More studies are necessary to clarify the potential beneficial effect of Li on aversive memory

Ansiedade, a criança e os pais

JUSTIFICATIVA E OBJETIVOS: A ansiedade pré-operatória na criança é caracterizada por tensão, apreensão, nervosismo e preocupação e pode ser expressa de diversas formas. Alterações de comportamento no pós-operatório como enurese noturna, distúrbios alimentares, apatia, insônia, pesadelos e sono agitado podem ser resultado desta ansiedade. em algumas crianças, estas alterações persistem por até um ano. O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar os aspectos envolvidos com a ansiedade que afeta a criança e os pais durante o período que antecede a cirurgia, bem como as intervenções, farmacológicas ou não, para reduzi-la. CONTEÚDO: O artigo aborda a ligação entre a ansiedade pré-operatória em crianças e as alterações de comportamento que podem ocorrer no período pós-operatório, bem como a influência de variáveis como idade, temperamento, experiência hospitalar prévia e dor. Medidas para reduzir a ansiedade pré-operatória na criança como a presença dos pais durante a indução da anestesia ou programas de informação e a utilização de medicação pré-anestésica também são revisadas. CONCLUSÕES: O período que antecede a cirurgia acompanha-se de grande carga emocional para toda família, sobretudo para a criança. Um pré-operatório turbulento significa, para muitas crianças, alterações de comportamento que se manifestam de forma variada e por períodos prolongados em algumas vezes. A presença dos pais durante a indução da anestesia e programas de preparação pré-operatórios para a criança e para os pais podem ser úteis para casos selecionados, levando em conta a idade, temperamento e experiência hospitalar prévia. A medicação pré-anestésica com benzodiazepínicos, em especial o midazolam, é claramente o método mais eficaz para redução da ansiedade pré-operatória em crianças e das alterações de comportamento por ela induzidas.

Ansiedade frente ao tratamento odontológico: prevalência e fatores predictores em brasileiros

Diante do impacto negativo que a ansiedade exerce sobre o atendimento odontológico, buscou-se conhecer sua prevalência e seus fatores predictores frente esse tratamento em brasileiros. Foi realizado um estudo de corte transversal, utilizando-se a escala de ansiedade de Corah para avaliar 3000 pacientes. Os resultados demonstram que 2 em cada 8 brasileiros avaliados apresentaram moderada ou severa ansiedade frente ao atendimento odontológico, verificando-se que a probabilidade de um paciente da população da qual a amostra foi extraída apresentar ansiedade é mais elevada se: for mulher (p = 0,007), da faixa etária superior a 20 anos (p = 0,006), se não possuir acesso a internet e/ou jornais (p = 0,016), se tiver baixa frequência de higiene oral (p = 0,001), se a visita dental for motivada por busca de tratamento curativo, por dor ou outro problema, ao invés de um check-up (p = 0,047), e experiência de odontalgia (p<0,001). O medo e a ansiedade a fatores odontológicos existem de fato na população brasileira e as conclusões do estudo sugerem que, além da falta de recursos econômicos, o descaso com a saúde bucal, o gênero e a idade podem aumentar o grau de ansiedade.

Ansiedade e depressão de mães de recém-nascidos com malformações visíveis

Este estudo teve como objetivo comparar as condições emocionais de mães cujos filhos nascem com malformações visíveis, em dois momentos: após o nascimento e três meses após alta hospitalar. Para tanto, foram avaliados os sinais de ansiedade e depressão de 17 mães desses recém-nascidos pelo Inventário de Depressão de Beck e Inventário de Ansiedade Traço-Estado - IDATE. Confirmando a literatura, com outras crianças de risco, observaram-se altos índices de ansiedade e depressão no pós-parto imediato, uma redução significativa da ansiedade-estado, da depressão e dos sinais clínicos de ansiedade, três meses após a alta. Pode-se supor que estava ocorrendo uma adaptação gradual dessas mães, que contavam com suporte social e grupo de apoio, à medida que tinham um contato íntimo com a criança e percebiam suas habilidades como cuidadoras. Discutem-se as limitações do estudo e necessidade de investigações orientadas para aprofundar a identificação dos fatores que potencializam ou dificultam a adaptação materna.

Estudo da ansiedade como variável no relacionamento aluno-paciente

O estudo tem o objetivo de analisar a ansiedade como variável na comunicação de alunas de graduação em enfermagem ao prestarem assistência aos pacientes. Os dados foram obtidos pela pesquisadora através da observação participante, estratégia que se constituiu simultaneamente de três procedimentos: registro das interações aluno-paciente pela pesquisadora, registro das mesmas pelos alunos e entrevistas dos alunos pela pesquisadora imediatamente após os dois primeiros procedimentos. A população da pesquisa constituiu-se de 10 alunos de enfermagem , acompanhados durante atividades de estágios curriculares nos 3°, 4° e 6° semestre do curso. A ansiedade, tanto dos alunos como dos pacientes, aparece como variável interferindo no uso da comunicação terapêutica pelos alunos.

Obesidade e sintomas de depressão, ansiedade e desesperança em mulheres sedentárias e não sedentárias

The aim of this field study was to verify if there is a relation between obesity and symptoms of depression, anxiety and hopelessness in 40 women aged 30,35 on average (± 8,60), divided into two groups: non-sedentary ones, characterized for doing a physical activity at least three times a week for three weeks in a row and sedentary ones, characterized by not practicing any type of regular physical activity when recruited. The method consisted of: objective evaluations of humor, through Beck Inventories of Anxiety (BAI), Depression (BDI) and Hopelessness (BHS) and Physical Evaluation, including total body mass, height, waist and hip circumferences and skin folds thickness. Calculations of the body mass index (BMI), of the waist/hip index (WHI) and of the percentage of corporal fat (%F) were performed in order to evaluate the presence and level of obesity. Results of the analysis of regression to square minimum supported the initial hypothesis concerning the existence of a relation between obesity and psychic symptoms only in sedentary women (BDI/WHI, p=0,035, BDI/BMI, p=0,009, BDI/%G, p=0,019, BAI/BMI, p=0,009, BAI/%G, p=0,037, BHS/WHI, p=0,025, BHS/BMI, p=0,041), once the relation of dependency could not be confirmed in non-sedentary women BDI/WHI, p=0,750, BDI/BMI, p=0,141, BDI/%G, p=0,064, BAI/WHI, p=0,729, BAI/BMI, p=0,384, BAI/%G, p=0,246, BHS/WHI, p=0,491, BHS/BMI, p=0,986, BHS/%G, p=0,322) and the greater the level of obesity, the greater the level of psychic symptoms in both groups. These observations seem to point out that the practice of physical activities was a factor of minimization of presence and intensity of psychic symptoms in non-sedentary women.

Escala de ansiedade odontológica: Reprodutibilidade das respostas dadas em entrevistas telefônicas e pessoais

Objective: To estimate the intra-examiner reproducibility of the Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) when applied by phone and personal interviews and to evaluate the association between the level of anxiety and the factors of interest. Method: The participants were 50 individuals (n=38 females) with mean age of 23.9±8.9 years, living in the city of Araraquara, SP, Brazil. The volunteers answered the DAS by means of two phone interviews with one-week interval between them. After 30 days, the DAS was applied to the same participants by means of personal interviews at two moments with one-week interval between them. Intra-examiner reproducibility was determined using Kappa (K) statistics by point and by confidence interval. Results: The intra-examiner agreement for the level of anxiety was 0.82 (0.75-0.90) for the phone interview and 0.69 (0.60-0.79) for the personal interview. Two of the DAS questions presented statistically significant difference in the intra-examiner reproducibility, with better agreement for the answers given by the participants during phone calls. The prevalence of dental anxiety in the sample was 92.0%, in such a way that 70.0%, 18.0% and 4.0% of them presented low, moderate and exacerbated anxiety. Conclusion: The classification of the individuals according to the anxiety level performed by means of phone and personal interviews presented statistically similar agreement. However, there was better agreement with phone calls for the questions referring to anxiety in the dental office's waiting room and during preparation of the motor for use in the dental treatment.

Disfunção temporomandibular (DTM): impacto do relaxamento sobre ansiedade e estresse

Pós-graduação em Psicologia do Desenvolvimento e Aprendizagem - FC

Presença de stress e ansiedade em primígestas no terceiro trimestre de gestação e no pós-parto

Pós-graduação em Psicologia do Desenvolvimento e Aprendizagem - FC

Estratégias de enfrentamento e níveis de ansiedade de mulheres em tratamento psicológico

Pós-graduação em Psicologia do Desenvolvimento e Aprendizagem - FC

Práticas parentais e indicadores de ansiedade, depressão e estresse maternos

Pós-graduação em Psicologia do Desenvolvimento e Aprendizagem - FC

Assistência pré-natal na meningomielocele, onfalocele e gastrosquise utilizando imagens fotográficas: compreensão da malformação, ansiedade materna e apego mãe-filho

Pós-graduação em Ginecologia, Obstetrícia e Mastologia - FMB