Resultados de investigación

Mesolimbic dopamine (DA) regulates activation and effort in motivated behaviors. Impairments in DA function induce motivational symptoms such as anergia and fatigue seen in depression. Stress modulates DA depending on its duration and intensity. Early-life events such as maternal separation (MS) could act as a stressor, affecting brain development and leading to behavioral changes later in life. However, little is known about the effect of early-life stressors on adult effort-based decision-making. CD1 male and female mice were subjected to early-mild MS (PND3-5, 90 min/day), and, during adulthood, were evaluated on selection of effortful responses under positive or aversive experimental conditions. The choice to engage in effortful activities such as running in a wheel (RW) versus engaging with passive reinforcers was evaluated in a three-choice-T-maze task. In the forced swim task (FST), time dedicated to vigorously escaping versus passively floating was measured. MS mice of both sexes, spent more time in the RW, and climbing in the FST, showing an increase in relative preferences for activity-based reinforcers, and persistence in vigorous escaping from aversive contexts compared to non-separated mice. Separated animals were less anxious but males were less socially oriented. DA depletion induced anergia in males, and increased the neurotrophic factor CDNF in Nacb of both sexes independently of separation conditions. Measures of anxiety, social interaction and sucrose preference and consumption were not affected after DA depletion. Thus, mild-early MS potentiates effortful behaviors during adulthood independently of the emotional value of the situation. Males were more vulnerable to DA-depletion induced-anergia.

Estos datos tienen como objetivo analizar la situación actual de los comités de ética en investigación con seres humanos en universidades públicas de España, específicamente en proyectos no clínicos. Se adoptó un enfoque exploratorio y descriptivo, realizando un mapeo exhaustivo de las páginas web oficiales de estas universidades entre febrero y noviembre de 2024. Se recopiló y analizó la documentación disponible, como normativas y reglamentos de los comités de ética.