ABSTRACT Animal models have been used in experimental research to increase human knowledge and contribute to finding solutions to biological and biomedical questions. However, increased concern for the welfare of the animals used, and a growing awareness of the concept of animal rights, has brought a greater focus on the related ethical issues. In this review, we intend to give examples on how animals are used in the health research related to some major health problems in Brazil, as well as to stimulate discussion about the application of ethics in the use of animals in research and education, highlighting the role of National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (Conselho Nacional de Controle de Experimentação Animal - CONCEA) in these areas. In 2008, Brazil emerged into a new era of animal research regulation, with the promulgation of Law 11794, previously known as the Arouca Law, resulting in an increased focus, and rapid learning experience, on questions related to all aspects of animal experimentation. The law reinforces the idea that animal experiments must be based on ethical considerations and integrity-based assumptions, and provides a regulatory framework to achieve this. This review describes the health research involving animals and the current Brazilian framework for regulating laboratory animal science, and hopes to help to improve the awareness of the scientific community of these ethical and legal rules.

RESUMO Objetivo Avaliação da ativação de fibras C para o registro de potenciais evocados utilizando-se laser de baixa potência, áreas pequenas de estimulação e escurecimento da pele. Método Potenciais evocados foram obtidos de 20 sujeitos. Uma placa de alumínio com uma pequena abertura foi acoplada à ponteira do laser para estimular área escurecida do dorso da mão. Resultados A intensidade média utilizada para estimulação foi de 70 ± 32 mW. Todos os sujeitos apresentaram respostas claras compreendendo dois picos um negativo (806 ± 61 ms) seguido por outro positivo (1033 ± 60 ms), correspondendo ao potencial evocado tardio por estimulação de fibras C. Conclusão Respostas de fibras C podem ser obtidas utilizando-se laser de baixa potência quando a estimulação é aplicada a pequenas áreas de pele escurecida. Esta estratégia oferece uma metodologia não invasiva que minimiza danos teciduais.

ABSTRACT Objective The evaluation of selective activation of C-fibers to record evoked potentials using the association of low-power diode laser (810 nm), tiny-area stimulation and skin-blackening. Method Laser-evoked potentials (LEPs) were obtained from 20 healthy young subjects. An aluminum plate with one thin hole was attached to the laser probe to provide tiny-area stimulation of the hand dorsum and the stimulated area was covered with black ink. Results The mean intensity used for eliciting the ultra-late laser-evoked potential (ULEP) was 70 ± 32 mW. All subjects showed a clear biphasic potential that comprised a negative peak (806 ± 61 ms) and a positive deflection (1033 ± 60 ms), corresponding to the ULEP related to C-fiber activation. Conclusion C-fiber-evoked responses can be obtained using a very low-power diode laser when stimulation is applied to tiny areas of darkened skin. This strategy offers a non-invasive and easy methodology that minimizes damage to the tissue.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of sleep restriction during pregnancy on maternal care and maternal aggression in a rodent model. Methods: Twenty-three female Wistar rats were assigned to one of two groups: control (n=12) or sleep restriction (n=11) during the entire pregnancy. At the fifth postpartum day, the animals were subjected to the resident-intruder paradigm and to the pup retrieval test. Results: Sleep restriction during pregnancy had no direct effects on maternal care. Regarding aggressive behavior, defensive aggression was increased by sleep loss, with a lower responsiveness threshold to hostile environmental stimuli. Sleep deprivation during gestation also reduced self-grooming behavior. Conclusion: Taking increased self-grooming as a behavioral correlate of anxiety in rodents, this study provides evidence that lactating dams were in a condition of reduced anxiety. From an adaptive perspective, this pattern of stress response may function to ensure proper maternal behavior, thereby guaranteeing the survival and viability of the litter. Under a translational perspective, the present article confronts the importance of biological and adaptive features to rodent maternal behavior with the relevance of sociocultural factors to the human mother-infant relationship and to the onset of postpartum depression.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate overall genetic damage induced by total sleep deprivation in obese, female Zucker rats of differing ages. METHOD: Lean and obese Zucker rats at 3, 6, and 15 months old were randomly distributed into two groups for each age group: home-cage control and sleep-deprived (N = 5/group). The sleep-deprived groups were deprived sleep by gentle handling for 6 hours, whereas the home-cage control group was allowed to remain undisturbed in their home-cage. At the end of the sleep deprivation period, or after an equivalent amount of time for the home-cage control groups, the rats were brought to an adjacent room and decapitated. The blood, brain, and liver tissue were collected and stored individually to evaluate DNA damage. RESULTS: Significant genetic damage was observed only in 15-month-old rats. Genetic damage was present in the liver cells from sleep-deprived obese rats compared with lean rats in the same condition. Sleep deprivation was associated with genetic damage in brain cells regardless of obesity status. DNA damage was observed in the peripheral blood cells regardless of sleep condition or obesity status. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these results suggest that obesity was associated with genetic damage in liver cells, whereas sleep deprivation was associated with DNA damage in brain cells. These results also indicate that there is no synergistic effect of these noxious conditions on the overall level of genetic damage. In addition, the level of DNA damage was significantly higher in 15-month-old rats compared to younger rats.

O sono ocupa cerca de um terço de nossas vidas, entretanto seu impacto na saúde e sua influência nas condições patológicas ainda não foi completamente elucidado. A prevalência dos distúrbios de sono é cada vez maior, sobretudo nas regiões mais industrializadas, repercutindo diretamente no bem-estar da população. Este artigo tem como objetivo sintetizar e atualizar a literatura a respeito do método de privação de sono paradoxal e seu panorama de conseqüências desde comportamentais até genéticas em animais. Ainda, destacamos a contribuição e relevância dos estudos experimentais realizados por nosso grupo nas ultimas três décadas.

Sleep comprises approximately one-third of a person's lifetime, but its impact on health and medical conditions remains partially unrecognized. The prevalence of sleep disorders is increasing in modern societies, with significant repercussions on people's well-being. This article reviews past and current literature on the paradoxical sleep deprivation method as well as data on its consequences to animals, ranging from behavioral changes to alterations in the gene expression. More specifically, we highlight relevant experimental studies and our group's contribution over the last three decades.

A privação do sono é a remoção ou supressão parcial do sono, e esta condição pode causar diversas alterações: endócrinas, metabólicas, físicas, cognitivas, neurais e modificações na arquitetura do sono, que em conjunto comprometem a saúde e a qualidade de vida do sujeito nestas condições. Já o exercício físico praticado regularmente promove benefícios como melhora do aparato cardiovascular, respiratório, endócrino, muscular e humoral, além disso, pode melhorar a qualidade do sono. Entretanto, a associação desses dois parâmetros não tem sido bem explorada, em parte pela dificuldade conseguir voluntários que se submetam a essa condição principalmente sem nenhum tipo de compensação financeira. A maioria dos estudos que investigaram o binômio exercício físico e privação de sono focou os efeitos no desempenho aeróbio. Embora ainda haja controvérsias, os estudos apontam para pequena ou nenhuma alteração desse parâmetro quando as duas situações se fazem presentes. Em relação à potência anaeróbia e força não tem sido encontrados alterações significativas, mas para eventos prolongados, parece haver uma interação entre a privação de sono e o exercício físico, o que sugere um mecanismo de proteção. Entretanto, é importante considerar que uma das alterações mais importantes causadas pela privação do sono é o aumento na percepção subjetiva, que por si só já representa um fator para diminuição e comprometimento do desempenho físico e pode representar um elemento de "mascaramento" dos efeitos deletérios da privação. Assim, o objetivo da presente revisão é o de discutir os diferentes aspectos da relação entre o exercício físico e a privação de sono, evidenciando seus efeitos e reflexos no desempenho físico.

Sleep deprivation can be defined as total or partial suppress of sleep and is associated with alterations in endocrine, metabolic, physical, cognitive functions and modifications of the sleep patterns that compromise health and quality of life. Physical exercise is associated with improvement of cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular, endocrine and nervous system, and a better sleep quality. However, the association of these two conditions is unclear, partly due to the difficulty to obtain volunteers to participate in this type of protocol with no financial compensation. The majority of the studies which investigate the association between physical exercises and sleep deprivation focus on aerobic performance and verify little or no effect of this parameter. Concerning anaerobic power and strength, significant alterations have not been found; however, for prolonged events there may be an interaction between these two factors, which suggests a protection mechanism. Nevertheless, it is important to consider that one of the main alterations caused by sleep deprivation the increase of the subjective perception, which presents a factor to decrease and compromise the physical performance per se, and may represent a masking element of the deleterious effects of sleep deprivation. Thus, the aim of present review is to discuss the different aspects of relationship between physical exercise and sleep deprivation, showing their effects and consequences in physical performance.

O objetivo do presente estudo foi verificar os escores referentes à escala de dependência de exercício, qualidade de vida, bem como os escores indicativos de humor em atletas de corrida de aventura (CA). Participaram deste estudo 17 atletas de ambos os gêneros com histórico de prática da modalidade de pelo menos três anos, com experiência em provas nacionais e internacionais e que figuram nas primeiras posições do ranking brasileiro. A média (± desvio-padrão) da idade, altura, massa corporal, índice de massa corpórea (IMC) e consumo de oxigênio foram: 31,11 ± 6,30 anos; 1,73 ± 0,07cm; 70,75 ± 7,96kg; 23,48 ± 1,48kg/m² e 58,70 ± 6,63ml.min¹.kg¹, respectivamente. Os voluntários responderam aos seguintes questionários: Escala de Dependência de Exercício (EDE), Idate Traço e Estado, Profile of Mood States (POMS), SF-36 Pesquisa em Saúde e Questionário de Padrão Social. Os resultados revelaram que os escores observados na EDE foram indicativos de dependência de exercício; já os questionários de humor revelaram ansiedade moderada, enquanto o POMS não detectou escores indicativos de distúrbios de humor. Quanto à qualidade de vida, a média das oito dimensões referentes ao questionário SF-36 se mostrou acima de 85%, sugerindo que, apesar de haver dependência de exercício, parece que esse fato não foi capaz de promover alterações significativas no estado de humor e na qualidade de vida. Esses dados sugerem que atletas de CA apresentam dependência de exercício não associada aos distúrbios de humor.

The aim of this study was to verify the referring scores of exercise dependence, quality of life as well as the mood indicators in adventure race (AR) athletes. 17 athletes of both sexes participated in the study and all had a history of three years in this modality, with national and international experience, and figured in the first positions in the Brazilian ranking. The age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and oxygen uptake averages ± standard deviations were: 31.11 ± 6.30 years; 1.73 ± 0.07 cm; 70.75 ± 7.96 kg; 23.48 ± 1.48 wt/ht² and 58.70 ± 6.63 ml.min-1.kg-1, respectively. The volunteers were given the following questionnaires: Exercise Dependency Scale (EDE), Idate Trait and State, Profile of Mood States (POMS), SF-36 Health Research and Social Patterns Questionnaire. The results showed that scores in EDE indicated exercise dependence, and the mood questionnaires revealed moderate anxiety, while the POMS did not detect any indicative scores of mood disorders. Concerning the quality of life, the average of 8 dimensions of the SF-36 was higher than 85%, suggesting that although there was exercise dependence, this fact alone did not promote significant alterations in mood and quality of life. Thus, our data suggested that athletes of AR have exercise dependence not associated to mood disorders.

El objetivo del presente estudio ha sido el de verificar los escores referentes a la escala de dependencia de ejercicio, calidad de vida, así como los escores indicativos de humor en atletas de Carrera de Aventura (CA). Participaron de este estudio 17 atletas de ambos géneros con histórico de práctica de la modalidad de por lo menos tres años, con experiencia en pruebas nacionales e internacionales y que figuran en las primeras posiciones del ranking brasileño. La media (± desvío padrón) de edad, altura, masa corporal, índice de masa corpórea (IMC) y consumo de oxígeno fueron: 31,11 ± 6,30 años; 1,73 ± 0,07 cm; 70,75 ± 7,96 kg; 23,48 ± 1,48 kg/m² y 58,70 ± 6,63 ml.min-1.kg-1, respectivamente. Los voluntarios respondieron a los siguientes cuestionarios: Escala de Dependencia de Ejercicio (EDE), "Idate Traço" y Estado, Profile of Mood States (POMS), SF-36 Investigación e Salud y Cuestionario de Padrón Social. Los resultados revelaron que los escores observados en la EDE fueron indicativos de dependencia de ejercicio, mientras que los cuestionarios de humor revelaron ansiedad moderada, entretanto el POMS no detectó escores indicativos de disturbios de humor. En relación a la calidad de vida, la media de las 8 dimensiones referentes al cuestionario SF-36 se mostró por encima de 85%, lo que sugiere que a pesar de haber dependencia de ejercicio, parece que ese hecho no fue capaz de promover alteraciones significativas en el estado de humor y en la calidad de vida. Nuestros datos sugieren que atletas de CA presentan dependencia de ejercicio no asociada a los disturbios de humor.