Influencia del estrés en la conducta maternal en hembras de ratón

El comportamiento maternal asegura la supervivencia de la descendencia hasta alcanzar la madurez sexual. Se trata de una conducta regulada por el cerebro socio-sexual y diferentes factores (como el estrés) pueden alterar los núcleos neuronales que rigen su funcionamiento. Así, el objetivo del presente trabajo será revisar la bibliografía existente hasta la fecha sobre el efecto que producen diferentes tipos de estrés en la posterior conducta maternal en hembras de ratón, seleccionando principalmente por su importancia dos tipos de conductas: la motivación maternal y la agresión maternal (es decir, tanto conductas dirigidas como no dirigidas a las crías). Para ello, primero describiremos las diferentes metodologías utilizadas para estudiar ambos tipos de conductas y, después, mostraremos los principales estudios que muestran el efecto de diferentes tipos de estrés en dicha conducta. Los resultados observados indican que el estrés modifica la conducta maternal ya que se han observado cambios en motivación y agresión. Sin embargo, algunos datos son ambiguos y varían en función del tipo de estrés o período gestacional/postparto en el que se sufre. A pesar de que más estudios son necesarios en este campo, este trabajo contribuirá al avance del concomiendo en patologías asociadas al estrés y la maternidad.Maternal behaviour ensures offspring’s survival, until the progeny arrives to sexual maturity. This behavior is regulated by the socio-sexual brain and different factors (such as stress) can alter the neural cores that control its performance. The objective of the present study is to revise the existing bibliography till the date about the effect that different types of stress produce in the future maternal behavior on female mice, selecting by the relevance two types of behaviour: maternal motivation and maternal aggression (behavior directed and non-directed towards pups). First, we will describe the different methodologies used to study both kind of behavior, then we will present the principal studies that shows the effect of different types of stress on behavior. The observed results suggest that stress modifies maternal behavior, because stress changes maternal motivation and maternal aggression. However, some data are ambiguous and vary according to the type of stress or gestational/postpartum period. Although more studies are needed in this field, this work will contribute to the advancement of knowledge in pathologies associated with stress and motherhood

Effects of acute maternal-filial separation on posterior maternal behavior in mice

Treball Final de Màster Universitari en Investigació en Cervell i Conducta. Codi: SBM024. Curs: 2017/2018Maternal behavior ensures offspring’s survival, until the progeny arrives to sexual maturity. This behavior is regulated by the socio-sexual brain, an interconnected neural network that regulates social behaviors. Different factors, like sensorial stimuli, hormones, experience or environmental factors can influence in the activity of this neural network to induce performance of maternal behavior. Among environmental factors, stress might have important effects in several physiological factors as well in behavior. Maternal-filial separation is known to cause an intense stress in pups which is the cause of severe neuropsychiatric problems. However, the effects of maternalfilial separation on the mother have not been properly studied, even if it might also be a stressful event for her. The goal of the present study is to analyze the effect of a 3-hour episode of acute maternal-filial separation (postpartum day 2) on three relevant aspects (experiments 1- 3) of maternal behavior: maternal aggression, maternal motivation and maternal care. In all three experiments we compare the behavioral performance of two groups of dams, separated and non-separated controls. Separated mothers attack faster to castrated males than non-separated controls, thus suggesting that separation stress increases maternal aggression. However, separation from pups shows no effect on maternal motivation. Concerning maternal care, our results indicate that separated mothers spend less time “on nest” and retrieve the pups before as compared to non-separated controls. These results suggest that mothers undergoing pup separation-induced stress are more anxious and consequently exhibit a more protective maternal style and an increased aggressiveness

Relación entre el deterioro cognitivo y alteraciones en ganglios basales en pacientes de EM: un estudio de neuroimagen

Treball Final de Grau. Grau en Psicologia. Codi: PS1048. Curs acadèmic 2016/2017La esclerosis múltiple (EM) es una enfermedad desmielinizante que afecta el sistema nervioso central (SNC), en la cual se desarrolla un deterioro cognitivo a lo largo de su padecimiento. Para estudiar dicho deterioro se utilizan técnicas de neuroimagen, como la resonancia magnética estructural (RM) y más recientemente la resonancia magnética funcional (RMF). En el presente estudio han participado 36 pacientes con EM remitente recurrente (RR) (18 de ellos cognitivamente deteriorados (CD) y 18 cognitivamente preservados (CP)), comparados con 18 sujetos sanos pertenecientes al grupo control. Los objetivos de este trabajo consisten en valorar y observar los cambios tanto estructurales como funcionales de los ganglios basales en la EM. Para ello, se realizaron pruebas neuropsicológicas, se obtuvieron imágenes anatómicas sagitales de alta resolución en 3D con la secuencia MP-RAGE: T1 y se realizaron análisis de Voxel Based Morphometry y de conectividad funcional para el estado de reposo y estadístico. Como resultados observamos que los pacientes CD tenían un peor desempeño en las pruebas y una mayor discapacidad que los otros grupos. Respecto a los resultados arrojados por las imágenes de la RM, se observó una pérdida de volumen de SG mayor en los pacientes CD Y CP comparados al grupo control, en donde el grupo CD presenta mayor pérdida al compararse con el CP. Los CD mostraron una pérdida significativa de volumen de SG en los ganglios basales bilateralmente, incluyendo el caudado, putamen y globo pálido. Y por último en cuanto a las imágenes de RMF se observó que los pacientes CD respecto del GC presentaban una disminución de la conectividad en el globo pálido y caudado derecho. Y en comparación los CD con los CP, los primeros mostraron una mayor CF entre el caudado derecho y la corteza bilateral orbitofrontal medial.Multiple sclerosis is a demyelinating disease that affects the central nervous system, in which is developed a cognitive impairment throughout the illness. To study this impairment are used neuroimaging techniques like the magnetic structural resonance and more recently the magnetic functional resonance. In this study participated 36 patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (18 of them cognitively impaired and 18 cognitively preserved), compared with 18 healthy subjects belonging to the control group. The objectives of this project consist in evaluated and observed the structural and functional changes in the basal ganglia. For that, were performed neuropsychological tasks, were obtained high resolution sagittal neuroanatomic imagens in 3D with the sequence MPRAGE: T1 and were made voxel based morphometry analysis and resting state functional connectivity analysis. The results we observed that the cognitive impairment patients have a worse performance in the tasks and a bigger disability compared with the others groups. In respect of the results thrown by the magnetic resonance images, were observe a loss of volume of gray matter bigger in the cognitive impairment patients and cognitive preserve patients compared with the control group, where the cognitive impairment group presented a bigger lose that the cognitive preserve group. The cognitive impairment patients showed a significant loss of gray matter volume in the basal ganglia bilaterally, including caudate, putamen and pallidum. Ultimately for the images of functional magnetic resonance, were observe that the cognitive impairment patients compared with control group, showed a decrease of the connectivity in pallidum and right caudate. And in comparison, the impairment group with the preserve group, the first one showed a bigger functional connectivity between right caudate and the bilateral medial orbitofrontal cortex