Neonatal handling induces long-lasting effects on behaviors and stress responses. The objective of the present study was to analyze the effects of neonatal handling (from the 1st to the 10th day after delivery) on the number of cells and volume of locus coeruleus (LC) nucleus in male and female rats at 4 different ages: 11, 26, 35, and 90 days. Results showed significant reductions in the number of cells and the volume of the LC nucleus in neonatally handled males and females compared with nonhandled rats. Environmental stimulation early in life induced a stable structural change in a central noradrenergic nucleus, which could be one of the causal factors for the behavioral and hormonal alterations observed in adulthood.

No abstract

RESUMO Objetivo Investigar a percepção que os usuários de um Centro de Atendimento, vinculado ao Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), têm a respeito do próprio Centro e dos serviços fonoaudiológicos prestados. Métodos Pesquisa de campo, transversal, composta por entrevista contendo 26 questões abertas e 14 questões fechadas, realizada com 111 sujeitos que foram atendidos no mês de agosto de 2013. A análise quantitativa foi realizada a partir da aplicação do GraphPad Prisma 5.1, SPSS 15.0, das testagens D’agostino e Person e dos testes não paramétricos comparativos F e Quiquadrado. A abordagem qualitativa foi pautada na análise de conteúdo. Resultados Quanto ao Centro de Atendimento, a percepção da maioria dos participantes foi positiva com relação à estrutura física e à equipe de secretárias/atendentes. Quanto à avaliação específica dos serviços fonoaudiológicos, as respostas foram positivadas para a fila de espera, para a conduta e explicações fornecidas pelo profissional fonoaudiólogo durante os atendimentos, principalmente no setor de Audiologia. A maior parte das justificativas dos entrevistados sobre a qualificação dos serviços foi respondida de maneira sucinta e sem encadeamento argumentativo. Conclusão O Centro de Atendimento obteve alto índice de aprovação na percepção dos usuários. O setor de audiologia foi melhor qualificado do que os trabalhos clínicos voltados às terapias de motricidade oral e linguagem.

Neonatal handling has long-lasting effects on behavior and stress reactivity. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of neonatal handling on the number of dopaminergic neurons in the hypothalamic nuclei of adult male rats as part of a series of studies that could explain the long-lasting effects of neonatal stimulation. Two groups of Wistar rats were studied: nonhandled (pups were left undisturbed, control) and handled (pups were handled for 1 min once a day during the first 10 days of life). At 75-80 days, the males were anesthetized and the brains were processed for immunohistochemistry. An anti-tyrosine hydroxylase antibody and the avidin-biotinperoxidase method were used. Tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive (TH-IR) neurons were counted bilaterally in the arcuate, paraventricular and periventricular nuclei of the hypothalamus in 30-µm sections at 120-µm intervals. Neonatal handling did not change the number of TH-IR neurons in the arcuate (1021 ± 206, N = 6; 1020 ± 150, N = 6; nonhandled and handled, respectively), paraventricular (584 ± 85, N = 8; 682 ± 62, N = 9) or periventricular (743 ± 118, N = 7; 990 ± 158, N = 7) nuclei of the hypothalamus. The absence of an effect on the number of dopaminergic cells in the hypothalamus indicates that the reduction in the amount of neurons induced by neonatal handling, as shown by other studies, is not a general phenomenon in the brain. Environmental stimuli during the neonatal period have lasting effects on emotional behavior and reactivity to stress in adult animals (1,2). Neonatal handling has been used as an experimental model to examine the mechanisms by which early environmental changes could affect neural systems, leading to stable behavioral and neuroendocrine changes (3-6). This apparently harmless procedure in infancy reduces fear in novel environments (5-7) and the secretion of corticosterone, adrenocorticotrophin and prolactin in response to stressors in adulthood (4-6). Furthermore, preliminary results from our laboratory showed that neonatal manipulation reduced the number of neurons in the medial amygdala, the prefrontal cortex (8) and the locus coeruleus (9), and decreased the number of somatostatinergic neurons in the hypothalamic periventricular nucleus

No abstract