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Effects Of Ethanol On Social-Induced Neural Activity In A Rat Model Of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Andrew Waldon

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The prevalency of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States is increasing, with current estimates at 1 in 36 children, over 1 in 46 in 2018. ASD is a neurobiological disorder often characterized by social impairments, and reports suggest individuals with ASD are more likely to use drugs and alcohol to self-medicate. The current study examined patterns of neural activity in vehicle and ethanol-exposed adult rats that were previously exposed to valproic acid in utero, a well-defined ASD-like animal model. We report analyses of neural activity in tissue from transgenic cFos-LacZ rats in which a colorimetric histochemical enzymatic reaction …

Behavioral Economic Demand: Investigation Of Sex Differences In Four Core Genotype Model Of Oral Oxycodone Self-Administration, Michelle Elsmore, David Jentsch, Joshua Peck, Anushree Karkhanis

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Opioid misuse has been identified to be related to problematic release of dopamine in the brain that is otherwise satiated by other alternative rewards. As mediated by patterns of positive and negative reinforcement, prolonged opioid use may transition into misuse and development of opioid use disorder. In human populations, men and women differ in their acquisition of drug use and escalation to drug misuse. Women quickly surpass their male counterparts in their transition from use to misuse in what is coined the telescoping effect. In this four core genotype model of oral oxycodone self administration, males were hypothesized to consume …

Colony Structure And Function In The Bank Swallow, Riparia Riparia, L., Valerie M. Freer

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

The bank swallow, Riparia riparia, is a common colonial swallow of the Northern Hemisphere. It nests in burrows which it digs in stream banks or in man-made excavations in sand and gravel banks. Colonies located in seven sand banks near Ellenville, New York, were studied.

Data were collected on 2,816 birds banded from 1965 to 1976 and on 246 birds that returned in subsequent nesting seasons through 1976. In addition, information on the development of the colony, nesting success, predation, and foraging was obtained during the nesting seasons of 1975 and 1976.

The first swallows to arrive at the …

The Effects Of Environmental Switchovers Between Enrichment And Impoverishment On Brain And Behavior In Mice, Judith K. Ahroon

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Rearing rodents or primates in environments that are comparatively enriched or impoverished results in often impressive physiological and anatomical changes after a certain period of exposure. However, the anatomical and biochemical characteristics that respond to environmental experience (Bennett, Diamond, Krech, & Rosenzweig, 1964; Greenough & Volkmar, 1973; Walsh, Budtz-Olsen, Penny, & Cummins, 1969) have been subjected to a more sophisticated level of analysis than have the less consistent changes in behavioral tendencies. The specific nature of environmentally induced modifications in behavioral tendencies must be better understood, if substantive predictions about brain-behavior relationships can be made. Furthermore, the long-term effects of …

Response Patterning In Goldfish: Single Alternation In A Pavlovian Aversive Paradigm, Julia E. Wallace

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Single alternation behavior was studied in a Pavlovian aversive shuttle response situation with goldfish. Pronounced patterning, equivalent to groups receiving concurrent trial discriminative cues, was observed in groups receiving a relatively short interval between reinforced and non-reinforced trials and a relatively long interval between non-reinforced and reinforced trials. Groups presented with the reversed temporal information between alternated trials and groups receiving fixed intervals between all trials showed patterning performance to a lesser degree. Following a failure to replicate the fixed interval patterning condition, attempts were made to reinstate alternation performance by increasing reinforcement magnitude and by giving extended training, but …

Licking Behavior As A Function Of Deprivation, Stimulus Quality And Experience In Rats, Alfred M. Volo

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Work in our laboratory as well as in others has shown that the microbehavioral components of the licking response in the rat (lick duration, lick rate, intake per second and intake per lick) can vary as a result of changes in the motivational state of the animal and the properties of the stimulus solution. Furthermore, Allison (1971) and our own pilot work have shown that these components can show "differential fractionation,” to borrow a term from the Classical Conditioning literature. This simply means that these components, although closely interrelated, may vary in different directions as a result of the same …