Digital Commons Network^™

Interaction Of Stocking Density And The Feeding Environment In Lactating Holstein Dairy Cows, Mackenzie Andrew Campbell

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Stocking density serves as a sub-clinical stressor impacting natural behavior and affective state of dairy cows. However, cows rarely experience stocking density as an isolated stressor. Understanding the effects of stocking density with additional management stressors such as low-fiber diets or feed restriction is the next step in alleviating stress and improving the well-being of lactating dairy cows housed in freestall barns. The overall goal of this dissertation was to evaluate the interaction of stocking density and the feeding environment on short-term production, behavioral, ruminal fermentation, and stress responses of lactating dairy cattle.

The first two studies (Chapter 2 and …

Pathways Of P38, Gsk3b, And Their Extensions To Mental Health, Amanda Carr

UVM College of Arts and Sciences College Honors Theses

Nearly one in five adults in the United States experience mental illness during a year (NAMI). Neurobiological correlates of these diseases may provide treatment options if they are better understood. Research has provided evidence supporting p38’s role in many mental health disorders. P38 mitogen-activated protein kinases appear frequently in literature regarding cellular threats, such as UV irradiation, and subsequently serves various functions including cellular death. With respect to neurological and psychiatric disease, many of the observed effects are related to structures or substrates that are regulated, at least in part, by p38 or its downstream targets. The goal of this …

Interactions Between Bnst Pacap Stress System And Estrous Cycling In Non-Overiectomized Female Rats, Beniah Brumbaugh

UVM Patrick Leahy Honors College Senior Theses

The objective of this investigation is to examine possible interactions between the BNST PACAP stress system and hormone levels during the estrous cycle of naturally cycling female rats. This is significant as behavioral consequences, analogous to anxiety disorders in humans, including increased startle, anxious behavior during open arm tests, and decreased feeding are associated with increased transcripts of PACAP and PAC1 within the BNST of animals undergoing a chronic variant stress paradigm (reviewed by Hammack & May, 2014). As females are at a greater risk to suffer from symptoms of PTSD than men (Veteran Affairs, 2017), studying females is of …

Renewal In The Context Of Stress: A Potential Mechanism Of Stress-Induced Reinstatement, Scott Timothy Schepers

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

In the animal laboratory, stressors can produce the relapse of drug-seeking behaviors after the behavior has been inhibited by extinction. This type of relapse has been called stress-induced reinstatement, and it models the relapse that is commonly reported in human populations. Interestingly, in the laboratory, stress does not typically reinstate extinguished behaviors that have been reinforced by food. One account of the discrepancy is that drugs of abuse may induce stress; therefore, when organisms learn to respond for drugs, they might learn to make the response in the “context” of stress. If so, then stress-induced reinstatement may be better described …

The Effects Of Hypothalamic Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor On Catecholaminergic Regulation Of Cardiovascular Function., Nicholas Christopher Cruickshank

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Considerable evidence supports the claim that a hyperactive sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is involved in most cases of human hypertension, and therefore a more thorough understanding of the central regulation of the SNS may help elucidate novel therapeutic options. The PVN is a key region in SNS regulation of blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR). Stimulation of the parvocellular PVN neurons has been shown to enhance sympathetic outflow and thereby increase BP. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a modulator of neuronal activity is upregulated in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) in response to several hypertensive stimuli such as …