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PubMed1986

Self-injurious behavior: a state-wide prevalence survey of the extent and circumstances.

A state-wide prevalence survey was conducted to determine the extent and circumstances of self-injurious behavior (SIB) among institutionalized mentally retarded individuals with 13.6% of the population (1,352 individuals) identified as being self-injurious from the approximately 10,000 clients in Texas' 13 residential facilities serving the mentally retarded. It was found that: (a) 89.8% of the clients were severely and profoundly mentally retarded; (b) differential therapeutic treatment modalities may have occurred according to the sex of the client; (c) 58.4% of the clients engaged in more than one SIB response topography; (d) 57% of the clients emitted SIB at least once per day; (e) 55% of all clients were aggressive toward others, with a higher incidence of aggression, property destruction, and sleep disturbances among clients who received psychoactive medication; and (f) 33.1% of the clients were on formalized positive treatment programs and 6.8% of the clients were on formalized aversive programs. Discussion highlights the extent and circumstances to which SIB exists and the need to implement effective and appropriate programming.

Aggression↗
PubMed1991

Sex, culture and the anthropologist.

The apocalyptic threat of AIDS, combined with recent ethnological developments, is promoting an anthropological "rediscovery of sex." If this rediscovery is to have important and lasting effects on the development of theory, a stock-taking is in order--one which examines anthropology's historical, methodological, and practical relationship to the study of sexual behavior. Parallel theoretical directions taken in both American and British anthropology, starting in the late 1920's, resulted in a disciplinary departure from the study of sexuality, as such; sexual behavior became shielded from analytic view by a more abstract, propositional approach to society and culture. In addition to reviewing these historical trends, the paper considers elements of personal privacy and intrasocietal variation in the anthropology of sex and, with illustrations taken from the Ilahita Arapesh of northeastern Papua New Guinea, proposes that the locus of sexual behavior and experience lies in the interaction of cultural ideas and psychobiological impulses.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1983

Genetic models for the study of aggressive behavior.

The analysis of genetic contributions to aggressive behavior is both conceptually and methodologically difficult, so that substantive findings remain sparse. Like other major psychiatric disease states, inappropriately aggressive behavior must be considered a multifactorial disorder, with both genetic and environmental contributions required for clinical expression. The documented heterogeneity of these determinants suggests the futility of searching for unitary causes. This contribution reviews studies of major gene effects in inbred strains of mice with high aggressivity, and considers the relevance of some rare single-gene disorders in man which include uncontrollably aggressive behavior as part of the phenotype.

Aggression↗
PubMed1992

Time-dependent effects of oral morphine on autotomy following brachial nerve section in the rat.

In this study, the effects of morphine in drinking water on autotomy in male F344 rats having undergone brachial nerve sections were assessed during a 3-week period. Morphine was self-administered orally in tap water by the rats. Rats administered morphine just after the nerve section or 1 week after the nerve section showed a significant increase in the severity of autotomy when compared to the rats administered distilled water. Morphine had no effect on autotomy when it was administered 2 weeks after the nerve section. These results suggested that the effect of oral morphine on autotomy changes in a time-dependent manner.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1994

Variability in the occurrence of ongoing discharges in primary afferents originating in the neuroma after peripheral nerve section in different strains of rats.

Activity in myelinated (A) afferents was recorded proximal to the neuroma 7-14 days after ligation and section of the sciatic nerve in spontaneously hypertensive (SHR), Wistar-Kyoto (WK) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Ongoing activity was recorded in 83% of nerve filaments in WK and in 89% in SHR rats. In contrast, only 16% of filaments recorded in SD rats had ongoing activity although the silent filaments could be activated by mechanical stimulation of the neuroma. Thus, the ability of the neuroma to generate ongoing activity in rats may be subject to strain-related genetic control.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Genetic factors may influence the development of spinal reflex hyperexcitability following sciatic nerve section in the rat.

We compared changes in the excitability of the hamstring flexor reflex evoked by electrical stimulation of the sciatic nerve before and after section of the peroneal, tibial and sural branches of the nerve in Sprague-Dawley (SD) and spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats. In both rat strains, the flexor reflex exhibited a biphasic hyperexcitability lasting over 120 min after nerve section. The initial brief, intense increase in reflex excitability was similar in SD and SHR rats. The second prolonged phase, which may represent hyperalgesia, was significantly greater in SHR than SD rats. These results indicate that genetic differences may have a role in the development of central sensitization.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Neonatal capsaicin treatment in rats results in scratching behavior with skin damage: potential model of non-painful dysesthesia.

We administered capsaicin or vehicle in 2-day-old rat pups, and for over 6 months examined the rats for damaged skin and for the behaviors of scratching, gnawing and biting their skin. By 35 days of age, all rats in the capsaicin group (n = 10) had damaged skin (i.e., lesions, hair loss and red skin) on the rostral half of their bodies. Skin damage remained prevalent over 6 months, whereas vehicle-treated rats (n = 8) had virtually no skin damage. Gnawing and biting behaviors were rarely observed, however, rats in the capsaicin group frequently scratched themselves. There was a significant positive correlation between the frequency at which rats scratched themselves and the total area of skin damage. Morphine (3.0 mg/kg, i.p.) greatly increased scratching behavior in only the capsaicin-treated rats and naloxone (0.5 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly reduced scratching in these rats. Thus, neonatal capsaicin, in its destruction of the majority of primary afferent C-fibers, is capable of inducing opioid-sensitive scratching behavior.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Sciatic nerve section induces mechanical hyperalgesia in skin adjacent to the deafferented region in rats: lack of correlation with autotomy behavior.

We have studied the development of cutaneous hypersensitivity in the innervation area of the saphenous nerve and autotomy behavior in rats after unilateral sciatic nerve section. Hypersensitivity was assessed by stimulating the saphenous area with mechanical (von Frey hairs and analgesimeter), cold (immersion) or heat (immersion or radiant heat) stimuli 10 days after sciatic nerve section. We did not observe any hypersensitivity to thermal stimulation or weak mechanical stimulation produced by von Frey hairs. A significant decrease in withdrawal threshold to intense mechanical pressure produced by analgesimeter was observed, indicating the possible presence of mechanical hyperalgesia. Eleven of 17 rats had started autotomy at this time, but there was no correlation between the presence of autotomy and mechanical hyperalgesia. It is concluded that in our experimental setting, only mechanical hyperalgesia was present 10 days after axotomy. Moreover, autotomy behavior and adjacent hyperalgesia may be triggered by different mechanisms.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Relation of abnormal burst activity of spinal neurons to the recurrence of autotomy in rats.

Two groups of rats received different amounts of peripheral deafferentations; one group received sections of sciatic nerve (S-rats) and the other received sections of sciatic and saphenous nerves (SS-rats). In Experiment 1 the occurrence of autotomy was compared between S- and SS-rats for up to 70 days after the surgery. Autotomy in SS-rats frequently recurred until 40 days after denervation whereas in S-rats it scarcely recurred. In Experiment 2 spontaneous activity was recorded from the spinal cords in S- and SS-rats, and the proportion of burst firing cells (B-cells), characterized by periodic and high frequency bursts, was compared. In both S- and SS-rats with fresh wounds the occurrence of B-cells was high until 40 days after denervation. However, B-cells were still frequently observed in SS-rats with old wounds until 40 days after denervation, whereas B-cells were scarcely found in S-rats with similar old wounds. This finding corresponded well with the behavioral observation in Experiment 1. The data strongly suggests that the continuance of a high proportion of B-cells in the spinal cord plays an essential role for the induction of recurrent autotomy.

Afferent Pathways↗
PubMed1979

Autotomy following peripheral nerve lesions: experimental anaesthesia dolorosa.

(1) When hindlimb peripheral nerves are cut across in rats and mice, there is a tendency for the animal to attack the anaesthetic limb. We have called this attack "autotomy". In this paper we describe the time course and degree of autotomy following various types of nerve injury. (2) Four different types of lesion were applied to the sciatic nerve of rats. The most serious autotomy was produced by section of the nerve and encapsulation of its cut end in a polythene tube. Section followed by immediate resuturing also produced serious autotomy. Simple ligation of the nerve end was followed by less autotomy than encapsulation or cut and resuture. A crush lesion caused only minimal attack. (3) Section of the saphenous branch of the femoral nerve produced no autotomy. However, if the saphenous and sciatic nerves were ligated at the same time so that the entire foot became anaesthetic there was a great increase of autotomy over that seen when the sciatic nerve alone was ligated. This increase with the double lesion occurred even if the saphenous nerve was ligated more than 100 days after the sciatic nerve had been cut. (4) Mice showed autotomy very similar to that seen in rats but the onset was somewhat faster. (5) Reasons are given to propose that autotomy is triggered by an abnormal afferent barrage generated in the cut end of the nerve. Autotomy from peripheral nerve lesions is a different phenomenon from that seen after dorsal root section. Autotomy occurs under conditions which produce anaesthesia dolorosa in man. This simple model may be suitable for studies of the prevention of irritations originating from chronic lesions of peripheral nerves.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

The bilaterally symmetrical deafferentation syndrome in macaques after bilateral spinal lesions: evidence for dysesthesias resulting from brain foci and considerations of spinal pain pathways.

Six macaques had been subjected to chronic left thoracic anterolateral cordotomy, which released persistent self-attacks of the hypoalgesic right hind limb. One to 4 weeks later, lesions were placed in the right thoracic spinal cord, 2-5 segments apart from the left lesion. None of these second-stage spinal lesions, including spinal hemisection, affected the continued self-attacks of the right leg. Therefore, the chronic deafferentation syndrome of contralateral anterolateral cordotomy is not dependent upon the rostral conduction, via long spinal sensory tracts, of neural activity from ipsilateral lumbosacral spinal segments. Furthermore, second-stage right thoracic spinal lesions, which damaged the anterolateral tracts in 4 macaques, caused the release of the deafferentation syndrome in the left hind limb, despite extensive prior destruction of the left anterolateral tracts. Therefore, the release of the deafferentation syndrome by contralateral cordotomy is independent of the functional activity of the ipsilateral anterolateral tracts. The bilateral symmetry of this syndrome after extensive bilateral spinal lesions suggests pathophysiological foci at the level of the brain rather than the spinal cord. This syndrome is considered to be an objective index of disturbing subjective sensations.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Effects of peripheral antisympathetic treatments in the tail-flick, formalin and autotomy tests.

The effects of peripheral adrenergic depleting agents on the threshold for non-damaging heat pain (tail-flick test), inflammatory pain associated with tissue injury (formalin test), and chronic pain or dysaesthesia associated with nerve lesions (autotomy test) were examined. Tail-flick latencies were increased by agents which deplete peripheral adrenergic transmitters--6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) and guanethidine--as well as by an agent which prevents the synthesis of noradrenaline--FLA63. A combination of guanethidine and FLA63 also increased latencies, but no more than either treatment alone. Formalin pain scores were reduced by FLA63+ guanethidine and 6-OHDA, but not by guanethidine or FLA63 alone. The percentage of rats that exhibited autotomy was reduced minimally by 6-OHDA and guanethidine treatments which started the day of surgery, maximally by guanethidine treatments which started 4 days before surgery, and not at all by guanethidine treatments which started 4 days after surgery. The results obtained in the formalin and autotomy tests are interpreted in terms of the possible roles of adrenergic transmitters in stimulating and sensitizing damaged afferents immediately after injury. The tail-flick results, however, suggest that adrenergic transmitters also act in lowering thresholds of normal peripheral receptor-fibre units. The relevance of the findings to the development of chronic pain are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Autotomy following limb denervation: effects of sparing selected afferents.

Lesions of the brachial plexus are often followed by inflammation, self-inflicted scratching and autotomy of the denervated extremity. If innervation of the shoulder girdle muscles was spared, this denervation syndrome was decreased in incidence and intensity as compared to a full brachial plexus section. Spared innervation increased the latency between the appearance of inflammation and autotomy, revealing a strong linkage between the site of inflammation and the site of autotomy attack. Plexus lesions, which spared one of the nerves of the distal limb, also decreased the incidence and intensity of autotomy and shifted self-attack from autotomy to scratching wounds. Subsequent section of this nerve produced a two-stage brachial plexus denervation, and the cumulated autotomy was markedly less than that produced by a single-stage brachial plexus denervation. Scratching wounds and autotomy exhibited similar latencies. Scratching was directed towards areas of partial innervation and autotomy towards areas of total denervation. The results are discussed in terms of the possible contributions of dysesthesia inflammation and ischemia in scratching behavior and autotomy.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

The effect of glycerol on autotomy. An experimental model of neuralgia pain.

Autotomy in nerve injured rats has been put forward as an animal model in a broad range of chronic neuralgic pain. We have examined the effect of glycerol, a new and promising therapeutic agent for trigeminal neuralgia, on this animal model. A single dose of glycerol, alcohol or saline was injected directly into experimental sciatic nerve neuromas in rats via a chronically implanted cannula. Injections were made either at the time of nerve injury or 2 weeks afterwards. Both forms of glycerol treatment caused a significant reduction in autotomy behavior relative to saline. Alcohol also suppressed autotomy, but it was less effective than glycerol.

Animals↗