RESUMO A presente nota técnica apresenta o X-PloRat, um software que permite o registro da localização, deslocamento e outras propriedades do comportamento animal em espaços confinados. O X-PloRat oferece uma grande variedade de relatórios e pode ajudar no treinamento de estudantes em observação do comportamento e também na validação de outros tipos de registros.

ABSTRACT The present technical note introduces the X-PloRat, a software for the scoring of animal location, displacement, and other behavioral properties, in enclosed spaces. The X-PloRat offers a variety of data reports and can be used for training students in behavioral observation and in validating other kinds of scoring procedures.

Resumo Objetivo: O objetivo deste estudo é analisar a estrutura da rede de empresas automotivas por meio das participações acionárias cruzadas, joint ventures, contratos de manufatura e alianças, de 2004 a 2012. O estudo também explora como a estrutura da rede afeta a concorrência e a disputa de posições no campo. Metodologia: A amostra envolveu 3695 díades. Com base nos dados foi possível construir e avaliar a composição das redes usando os softwares Gephi e UCINET. Além de uma análise contextual e longitudinal, as métricas de análise de rede, como a centralidade, os grupos e a densidade, serviram de método de análise. Resultados: Os resultados mostram como as relações (participações acionárias cruzadas, joint ventures, contratos de manufatura e alianças) entre as empresas sustentam a internacionalização e crescimento de diversas organizações automotivas. As ligações também geram maiores possibilidades de acesso a recursos e oportunidades de mercado. Também são elaboradas inferências sobre como esses recursos influenciam a concorrência e domínio de posições privilegiadas no campo. Contribuições: A estrutura relacional molda e influencia a estrutura competitiva do campo. No campo, os relacionamentos cooperativos e/ou competitivos são capazes de gerar novas ordens e formas de controle.

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the network structure of automotive companies linked by cross-shareholding, joint ventures, manufacturing contracts and alliances, from 2004 to 2012. The study also explored how the network structure affects the competition in the field. Design/methodology/approach: The sample involved 3695 dyads. Based on this data, it was possible to build and assess networks using Gephi and UCINET software. The study considered network analysis metrics such as centrality, group and network densities temporally. Thus, associated with a contextual and longitudinal analysis, the construction of sociograms allowed visualization of the interactional structure and the automakers’ position in the field. Findings: Results showed that the internationalization and growth of automakers and suppliers are made possible through these relationships among companies (cross-shareholding, joint ventures, manufacturing contracts and alliances). Connections may generate greater power, access to resources and market opportunities. It also enhanced the elaboration of inferences about how these resources influence the competition in the field. Originality/value: The increasing importance of this relational resource shapes the industry competitive structure, which is composed of cooperative and competitive relationships found in meso-level orders.

A behavioral test battery is proposed for wall lizards (Tropidurus oreadicus) that consists of inducing tonic immobility (TI) followed by post-TI behavioral scoring. After the induction of TI, the usual behavioral sequence was flight followed by freezing and tongue-flicking and/or thigmotaxis, with flight being more probable than freezing. These sequences were not observed after restraint in a normal upward position (which induced freezing but not TI) or after handling (which increased the probability of tongue-flicking). Alprazolam and imipramine selectively decreased the duration of TI as well as the following flight and freezing behavior. Tongue-flicking was increased by diazepam and alprazolam, whereas fluoxetine decreased it. Finally, thigmotaxis was reduced by diazepam, alprazolam, and imipramine but increased by fluoxetine. These results suggest that panic and anxiety can be discriminated pharmacologically in wall lizards.

In order to determine the modulation of anxiolytic and panicolytic-like effects of diazepam by the hormonal cycle of female rats, male and female rats - the latter divided per estrous cycle phase (estrus, diestrus, metaestrus and proestrus) - were tested in the elevated T-maze, a behavioral model of panic and anxiety. Diazepam (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/kg) or saline solution was injected in individual animals that were submitted to one session in the elevated T-maze 25 min after drug/saline administration. The test consisted of three avoidance trials and one escape trial, separated by a 30 s interval, during which the animals were isolated in individual cages. The avoidance trials began with the animal being placed at the end of the maze's enclosed arm. The time necessary for the animal to leave the central square was considered as the response's latency. The trials that exceeded 300 s were considered as failures. Results demonstrate a decrease in the effects of diazepam in inhibitory avoidance (anxiety) trials in females in diestrus and proestrus, but no relation of gender or estrous cycle on diazepam effects on escape trials (fear). The results support the hypothesis that down-regulation of GABA A receptors by activation of nuclear estrogen receptors and induction of PKC-mediated GABA A receptor phosphorylation by activation of surface estrogen receptors in raphe neurons underlie the modulation of diazepam sensitivity by estrogen.

The positive reinforcing properties of addictive drugs have a primary role in the development of drug dependence. In the field of opiates, great attention has been given to this phenomenon, as well as to the negative properties eliciting craving and inducing relapse during withdrawal. This study was designed to evaluate whether elevated plus-maze (EPM) experienced rats withdrawn from low doses of subcutaneous (s.c.) morphine (10 mg/kg), in which a high anxiety level is the most prominent withdrawal symptom, acquire place preference when submitted to a conflict paradigm in which drug effects are paired with an aversive context: the distal part of the open arms of an EPM. Both the anxiety test and place preference conditioning were measured in the same apparatus, a biased version of the plus-maze. In order to verify the influence of previous EPM spatial learning on the performance of morphine-withdrawn rats, half the animals in this study experienced the EPM prior to treatment. Additional groups were also tested under the influence of morphine effects. The effects of the treatments were quantified through the analysis of three types of measures: anxiety was inferred from the use of the conventional measures (percentage of entries and time spent in the open-arms) and risk-assessment behaviours (frequency of stretched-attending postures - SAP, and time spent at the centre of the maze). Place preference conditioning was evaluated through analysis of the number of entries, total time spent and distance run in the open-arm extremities, which is where the animals were conditioned. The number of closed-arm entries was taken as an index of locomotor activity. Our results showed that (i) EPM naïve rats pre-treated with morphine did not develop place preference, behaving like control rats; (ii) rats that had previous experience in the EPM showed no changes in open-arm avoidance on the second exposure, when compared with rats naïve for this condition; (iii) previous spatial learning of the EPM contextual cues was, in fact, a requirement for anxiety-inducing place preference for the open-arms in morphine-withdrawn rats and, (iiii) conditioned place preference was achieved both in rats under the effects of morphine and in withdrawal, probably through the influence of the positive or negative reinforcing effects promoted by the presence or absence of the drug in the central nervous system.

The present work aimed at studying the influence of the estrous cycle in the forced swim test, an animal model of depression. For this, 44 male and female Wistar rats were divided into five groups according to the hormonal state in the first day of the study: metaestrus (N = 12), diestrus (N = 8), proestrus (N = 7), estrous (N = 6) and males (N = 11). They were housed in groups of five, with water and food ad libitum under a 12/12 h light/dark cycle. Females were screened daily for the estrous cycle. The animals were subjected to two swimming sessions in a glass cylinder with water up to 15 cm at 28±2º C. The data of the first five minutes of a 15-min first session were compared to those of a 5-min second session 24 h later. The results indicate that the latency to the first immobility was substantially reduced in the second session and was longer for females in diestrus and proestrus in the first session. The results also indicate that females in diestrus and proestrus exhibited less immobility than males in the first session; females in diestrus also exhibited less immobility than females in metaestrus. Females in metaestrus and diestrus, as well as males, did not present the decrease in total immobility times in the second session. The present results are analyzed in terms of differential effects of progesterone and estrogen on a learning component and an affective component.

The are few reports on the relationship between elevated plus-maze and effects of maintenance conditions in the days prior to the test. Previously, we have demonstrated that being forcibly in total dark or in light for four days does not alter exploratory behavior in the plus-maze. The present study aimed at recording illumination level preferences in rats using a box with light and dark compartments (or another with two light compartments) and the behavioral effect of this choice on the plus-maze. The rats allowed to express their preference to remain in one particular level of illumination tended to stay initially in the dark compartment and gradually preferred to remain in the light compartment. When tested in the elevated plus-maze there were no effects in comparison to controls kept in commercial cages.

El conjunto de respuestas emitidas por diferentes especies frente a un peligro real o potencial se conoce como Estado de Ansiedad. Este estado, de importancia evolutiva para las especies, aparece cuando se detecta un peligro o amenaza o ante la presencia de estímulos ambiguos, innatos o aprendidos, que indican una amenaza. Así, un determinado nivel de ansiedad es benéfico para los animales, siendo un recurso fundamental de protección contra peligros físicos y sociales. Los substratos neurales responsables por tales estados, corresponden a áreas cerebrales antiguas, preservadas en muchas especies y críticas para el control de las emociones que al sufrir alteraciones en su funcionamiento producen disturbios del comportamiento. Diversos modelos experimentales se han desarrollado para estudiar los componentes conductuales y sustratos neurales implicados en el estado de ansiedad y su utilización ya está suministrando herramientas para complementar la comprensión de diversas patologías y conocimiento del mundo de las emociones.

The set of answers emitted by the organisms in response to a real or potential danger is called the Anxiety State. This state, of evolutionary importance, appears when a strong danger or risk is detected, and in response to ambiguous threat stimuli that could be of innate or learned nature. A low level of anxiety is beneficial for the animals as a fundamental resource of protection of the individual against physical and social dangers. The neural basis responsible by such states would be the oldest cerebral areas, preserved in many species, that are crucial for the control of the emotions, and whosemalfunctions lead to mood disorders. Many experimental models have been developed to help the study of behaviors and neural basis of the anxiety state, providing tools that collaborate not only to the therapeutics of pathologies, but also to the better understanding of the world of the emotions

O labirinto em cruz elevado é um dos modelos mais usados no estudo da ansiedade, medo e fármacos que alteram esses estados. Apesar da simplicidade aparente do modelo, diversos são os fatores que afetam o comportamento de ratos submetidos a esse modelo. Além disso, não se conhece exatamente quais os estímulos ambientais são os desencadeadores da aversão nesse modelo. O presente trabalho sugere que, em estudos onde os estímulos auditivos e olfativos são controlados, a aversão em ratos é desencadeada pela visão. A hipótese de trabalho é que os mecanismos mediadores da aversão (e estados emocionais concomitantes) são deflagrados pela entrada de luz e pela formação de imagens na retina dos animais. Para fundamentar essas hipóteses complementares, vários experimentos são analisados, cujos resultados favorecem uma, outra ou ambas as hipóteses. Finalmente, resultados obtidos com marcação da proteína c-Fos fornecem evidência neurofuncional que apóia as duas hipóteses sugeridas.

The elevated plus-maze is one of the most used models to study anxiety, fear and drugs that alter these states. In spite of the apparent simplicity of the model there are several factors that affect the behavior of rats submitted to this test. Besides, the actual environmental stimuli triggering aversion in this model are not known. The present work suggests that, in studies where auditory and olfactory stimuli are controlled, aversion in rats is triggered by vision. The hypothesis advanced is that the mechanisms mediating aversion (and the concomitant emotional states) are triggered by light entering the rats' retina and by images forming in it. In order to fundament these two complementary hypotheses, several experiments are analyzed, the results of which favor one, other or both hypotheses. Finally, results obtained with protein c-Fos staining supply neurofunctional evidence that supports both suggested hypotheses.

Le labyrinthe en croix élevé est un des plus employés modèles pour l'étude d' anxiété, peur et des drogues que modifient ces états émotionnelles. Malgré sa simplicité apparente, il y a plusieurs de facteurs affectant le comportement des rats soumis a ce modèle. D'autre part, on ne connais pas exactement quelles sont les stimulations environnementales déclenchant l'aversion dans ce modèle. Le présent travail suggère que, dans les études où les stimulations auditifs et olfactifs sont contrôlés, l'aversion chez les rats est déclenché par la vision. L' hypothèse de travail est que les mécanismes médiateurs de la aversion (et des états émotionnelles concomitants) sont déclenchés par l'entrée de la lumière et par la formation d'images chez la rétine de ces animaux. Pour légitimer ces hypothèses complémentaires, plusieurs expériences sont analysés, dont les résultats privilégient un et l'autre hypothèse. Finalement, résultats obtenues avec la marquage de la protéine c-Fos portent évidence neurofonctionnelle soutient les deux hypothèses suggérés.

Há pouca informação sobre o efeito dos ambientes onde os ratos são mantidos antes de testes. Para investigar o efeito da iluminação do biotério, ratos Wistar machos foram submetidos a um período de 96 h de iluminação contínua, escuridão contínua ou um ciclo claro escuro de 12:12 h e testados no labirinto em cruz elevado em uma sala iluminada (150 lux) ou escura (0 lux). Os resultados mostram que nem a iluminação contínua nem a escuridão contínua do biotério afetam o comportamento dos ratos, quando comparados aos sujeitos mantidos no ciclo claro-escuro de 12 h. A condição de luminosidade durante o teste, no entanto, foi importante: independentemente da condição de iluminação do biotério, os animais testados no escuro exploraram mais os braços abertos do labirinto, um resultado já relatado na literatura e interpretado como diminuição da ansiedade nesse aparato.

There is little information about the environments where rats are kept before being tested. In order to investigate the role of vivarium illumination, male Wistar rats were submitted to a 96-h period of continuous illumination, continuous dark or a 12:12 h light/dark cycle and tested in the elevated plus-maze in a lit (150 lux) or a dark room (0 lux). Results showed that neither vivarium illumination nor darkness for 96 h altered the rats' behavior in comparison to that of rats kept under the 12-h light/dark cycle. Luminosity during the test, however, was important: no matter what the vivarium illumination was, rats tested in the dark room explored more the open arms of the maze, an already reported result which is interpreted as decreased anxiety in this apparatus.