Világszerte népszerűek a rövid orrú kutyafajták. A népszerűségért ugyanakkor az egészségükkel fizetnek ezek a kutyák: a koponya megrövidülése az agy torzulásával, légzési nehézségekkel és alvásproblémákkal is jár. Magyar kutatók legújabb eredményei szerint ehhez hozzájárulhat, hogy a rövid fejű kutyák többet alszanak, mivel a fajtájukra jellemző alvási apnoé növeli a nappali álmosságot, alvásukban hosszabb a REM-fázis, mint a nem-REM, és alvási EEG mintázatuk fehérállomány-vesztésre utaló jeleket is mutat.
A nagy, kerek fej lehet, hogy sokak számára vonzó kutyatulajdonság, de nagyon egészségtelen. Az extrém rövid fejű kutyák, mint amilyen a francia és angol buldog, valamint a mopsz átlagosan 3-4 évvel kevesebb ideig élnek, mint más kutyák, és gyakran előfordul, hogy a felnőttkort sem érik meg. Rövidke életükben is számos betegséggel küzdenek, műtéteken esnek át, hogy mozgásszervi-, szem- és légzési problémáikat korrigálják. A koponya kóros megrövidülése az agy torzulásával, gömbölyűbbé válásával is együtt jár, azt azonban nem lehet tudni, hogy mindez milyen hatással van az agy működésére.
Magyar kutatók 92 családi kutya alvását vizsgálták meg EEG-vel. “Az alváslaboratóriumban körülbelül három órát töltenek el a kutyák a gazdájukkal együtt. Mivel semmi izgalmas nem történik a laborban, a kutyák hamar elalszanak. Közben a fejbőrükre ragasztott elektródákkal elvezetjük az az agyi aktivitás által létrehozott elektromos potenciált" - mondja Kis Anna, az alvó kutyák tanulmányozásának úttörője, a HUN-REN Kognitív Idegtudományi és Pszichológiai Intézet munkatársa.
“Azt szerettük volna megvizsgálni, hogy a fejforma kapcsolatban van-e az EEG alvásmintázattal, hiszen ismert, hogy a rövidfejű kutyák, például a bulldogok, a légzési problémáik miatt oxigénhiánnyal küzdenek és ezért rosszabb minőségű az alvásuk. Azt találtuk, hogy a rövidebb fejű kutyák a vizsgálat ideje alatt többet aludtak a rendelkezésére álló három órában. A több alvás napközben valószínűleg az elégtelen éjszakai alvás pótlása. De az EEG mintázatok áttanulmányozásakor ennél izgalmasabb eredményeket is kaptunk.” - folytatja Bognár Zsófia doktorandusz, aki évek óta foglalkozik a nyomott orrú, tudományos néven brachycephalikus kutyafajták kutatásával is.
A kogníció vizsgálata során kiemelt figyelmet kap az alvás alatti REM fázis, amelyet paradox alvásnak is neveznek, mivel az agyi aktivitást az ébrenléthez hasonló gyors frekvenciájú agytevékenység jellemzi, miközben az izomtónus a minimumra csökken. Korábbi kutatásokból ismert például, hogy a REM alvás közben mérhető béta és delta agyhullámok nagysága (EEG amplitúdója) összefügg a tanulás sikerességével kutyáknál, és az intelligenciával embereknél. “Jelen vizsgálatban azt találtuk, hogy a brachycephalikus kutyáknál a béta hullámok aránya csökkent, a delta pedig emelkedett a hosszabb orrúakhoz képest. Az alvási orsók frekvenciája nőtt. Ezt a mintázatot korábban összefüggésbe hozták a kutyák rosszabb tanulásával, embereknél pedig az agy fehérállományának veszteségével" - mondja Ivaylo Iotchev, a Brain Structure and Function című folyóiratban megjelent tanulmány első szerzője.
"Több oka is lehet az eredményeinknek. Ezek közül a legérdekesebb az, hogy olyan, mintha a rövid fejű kutyák megmaradtak volna a kölyökkori alvásmintázatnál, az újszülöttek ugyanis több időt töltenek REM alvás fázisban. Elterjedt feltevés, hogy a bracycephalikus kutyákat csecsemőszerű vonásokra szelektálták. Azért nagy a fejük és a szemük, magas a homlokuk, pisze az orruk, mert mi emberek, ellenállhatatlanul vonzónak találjuk ezeket a tulajdonságokat. Így érik el a kisbabák, hogy gondoskodjunk róluk. Elképzelhető, hogy a kutyák csecsemőszerűségre szelektálása részben az agyműködésüket is infantilizálta." - mondja Kubinyi Enikő, egyetemi tanár, az MTA-ELTE Társállat és a NAP Kutyaagy Kutatócsoport vezetője. “De ez egyelőre csak egy merész feltételezés. Az azonban biztos, hogy a brachycephalikus fejformára való tenyésztés olyan módon változtathatja meg az agyi aktivitást, amely a kutyák és az emberek alvásával kapcsolatos irodalom ismeretében aggasztó, mert az agyműködés potenciálisan káros változásaira utal.”
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THE SHAPE OF DOGS' HEADS AFFECTS THEIR SLEEP
Flat-faced dog breeds are popular all over the world. However, their popularity comes at a high cost in terms of health: shortened skulls are associated with deteriorative brain morphology changes, breathing difficulties and sleep problems. According to recent findings by Hungarian researchers, flat-faced dogs sleep more because their breed-specific sleep apnea increases daytime sleepiness, their REM sleep phase is longer than non-REM sleep, and their sleep EEG patterns show signs of white matter loss.
Despite being a health hazard, the large, round head may be an attractive dog feature for many people. Extremely flat-faced dogs, such as French and English bulldogs and pugs, live on average 3 to 4 years less than other dogs and often do not live to adulthood. Even in their short lives, they suffer from many ailments and undergo surgery to correct musculoskeletal, eye and respiratory problems. The abnormal shortening of the skull is also associated with a distorted, rounded brain, but it is not yet known how this affects neural functioning.
Hungarian researchers studied the sleep of 92 family dogs using EEG. "In the sleep lab, dogs spend about three hours with their owners. As nothing exciting happens, the dogs fall asleep quickly. Meanwhile, we conduct the electrical potential generated by the brain activity with electrodes glued to their scalps," says Anna Kis, a pioneer in the study of sleeping dogs and a researcher at the HUN-REN Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology.
"We wanted to investigate whether the head shape is related to EEG patterns, as flat-faced dogs are known to suffer from oxygen deprivation due to respiratory problems and, therefore, have poorer quality sleep. We found that the flat-faced dogs slept more in the three hours given to them during the study. More daytime sleep is probably compensation for insufficient sleep at night. But, when we studied the EEG patterns, we found even more exciting results than that," continues Zsófia Bognár, a PhD student who has been researching breeds of dogs with shorter noses, scientifically known as brachycephalic dogs, for many years.
When studying cognitive functions, special attention is devoted to the REM phase during sleep, also known as paradoxical sleep, because of high frequency brain activity similar to wakefulness accompanied by muscle atonia. For example, it is known from previous research that the amplitude of beta and delta brain waves (measured via EEG) during REM sleep is associated with learning success in dogs and intelligence in humans.
"In the present study, we found that brachycephalic dogs had decreased beta waves and increased delta compared to dogs with longer noses. The frequency of sleep spindles increased. This pattern has previously been associated with poorer learning in dogs and loss of white matter in humans," says Ivaylo Iotchev, first author of the study published in the journal Brain Structure and Function.
"There may be several reasons for our results. The most interesting of these is that it seems as if the flat-faced dogs have retained the sleep pattern of puppyhood, similar to newborns who spend more time in REM sleep. It is widely assumed that brachycephalic dogs are selected for infant-like traits. They have large heads and eyes, high foreheads and small noses because we humans find these traits irresistibly attractive. That's how babies get us to care for them. It is possible that the selection of dogs to be infant-like in appearance has also infantilized their brain function," says Enikő Kubinyi, professor and head of the MTA-ELTE Lendület “Momentum” Companion Animal Research Group and ELTE NAP Canine Brain Research Group. "But this is a bold assumption for now. What is very likely, however, is that breeding for brachycephalic heads leads to potentially harmful changes in brain function."
Original paper: Iotchev, I.B., Bognár, Z., Tóth, K. et al. Sleep-physiological correlates of brachycephaly in dogs. Brain Struct Funct 228, 2125-2136 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-023-02706-y
THE SHAPE OF DOGS' HEADS AFFECTS THEIR SLEEP
Flat-faced dog breeds are popular all over the world. However, their popularity comes at a high cost in terms of health: shortened skulls are associated with deteriorative brain morphology changes, breathing difficulties and sleep problems. According to recent findings by Hungarian researchers, flat-faced dogs sleep more because their breed-specific sleep apnea increases daytime sleepiness, their REM sleep phase is longer than non-REM sleep, and their sleep EEG patterns show signs of white matter loss.
Despite being a health hazard, the large, round head may be an attractive dog feature for many people. Extremely flat-faced dogs, such as French and English bulldogs and pugs, live on average 3 to 4 years less than other dogs and often do not live to adulthood. Even in their short lives, they suffer from many ailments and undergo surgery to correct musculoskeletal, eye and respiratory problems. The abnormal shortening of the skull is also associated with a distorted, rounded brain, but it is not yet known how this affects neural functioning.
Hungarian researchers studied the sleep of 92 family dogs using EEG. "In the sleep lab, dogs spend about three hours with their owners. As nothing exciting happens, the dogs fall asleep quickly. Meanwhile, we conduct the electrical potential generated by the brain activity with electrodes glued to their scalps," says Anna Kis, a pioneer in the study of sleeping dogs and a researcher at the HUN-REN Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology.
"We wanted to investigate whether the head shape is related to EEG patterns, as flat-faced dogs are known to suffer from oxygen deprivation due to respiratory problems and, therefore, have poorer quality sleep. We found that the flat-faced dogs slept more in the three hours given to them during the study. More daytime sleep is probably compensation for insufficient sleep at night. But, when we studied the EEG patterns, we found even more exciting results than that," continues Zsófia Bognár, a PhD student who has been researching breeds of dogs with shorter noses, scientifically known as brachycephalic dogs, for many years.
When studying cognitive functions, special attention is devoted to the REM phase during sleep, also known as paradoxical sleep, because of high frequency brain activity similar to wakefulness accompanied by muscle atonia. For example, it is known from previous research that the amplitude of beta and delta brain waves (measured via EEG) during REM sleep is associated with learning success in dogs and intelligence in humans.
"In the present study, we found that brachycephalic dogs had decreased beta waves and increased delta compared to dogs with longer noses. The frequency of sleep spindles increased. This pattern has previously been associated with poorer learning in dogs and loss of white matter in humans," says Ivaylo Iotchev, first author of the study published in the journal Brain Structure and Function.
"There may be several reasons for our results. The most interesting of these is that it seems as if the flat-faced dogs have retained the sleep pattern of puppyhood, similar to newborns who spend more time in REM sleep. It is widely assumed that brachycephalic dogs are selected for infant-like traits. They have large heads and eyes, high foreheads and small noses because we humans find these traits irresistibly attractive. That's how babies get us to care for them. It is possible that the selection of dogs to be infant-like in appearance has also infantilized their brain function," says Enikő Kubinyi, professor and head of the MTA-ELTE Lendület “Momentum” Companion Animal Research Group and ELTE NAP Canine Brain Research Group. "But this is a bold assumption for now. What is very likely, however, is that breeding for brachycephalic heads leads to potentially harmful changes in brain function."
Original paper: Iotchev, I.B., Bognár, Z., Tóth, K. et al. Sleep-physiological correlates of brachycephaly in dogs. Brain Struct Funct 228, 2125-2136 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-023-02706-y
