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Neuroscience and Neurobiology

Selected Works

2017

Articles 1 - 18 of 18

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Jennifer Maurer Phd Thesis.Pdf, Jennifer Maurer Nov 2017

Jennifer Maurer Phd Thesis.Pdf, Jennifer Maurer

Jennifer Maurer


Signaling cascades, such as the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway, play vital roles in early vertebrate development. Signals through these pathways are initiated by a growth factor or hormone, are transduced through a kinase cascade, and result in the expression of specific downstream genes that promote cellular proliferation, growth, or differentiation.Tight regulation of these signals is provided by positive or negative modulators at varying levels in the pathway, and is required for proper development and function. Two members of the dual-specificity phosphatase (Dusp) family, dusp6 and dusp2, are believed to be negative regulators of the ERK pathway and are …

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Rumination Is Associated With Diminished Performance Monitoring, Ema Tanovic, Greg Hajack, Charles A. Sanislow Aug 2017

Rumination Is Associated With Diminished Performance Monitoring, Ema Tanovic, Greg Hajack, Charles A. Sanislow

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

Rumination is a construct that cuts across a variety of disorders, including anxiety and depression. It has been associated with deficits in cognitive control thought to confer risk for psychopathology. One aspect of cognitive control that is especially relevant to the content of ruminative thoughts is error processing. We examined the relation of rumination and 2 electrophysiological indices of error processing, error related negativity (ERN), an early index of error detection, and error positivity (Pe), a later index of error awareness. Consistent with prior work, ERN was negatively correlated with anxiety (i.e., more anxious individuals were characterized by larger ERNs). …

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The Effects Of Ethanol On Diverse Components Of Choice In The Rat: Reward Discrimination, Preference And Relative Valuation, Howard C. Cromwell, Justin J. Mcgraw, Luke Zona Jun 2017

The Effects Of Ethanol On Diverse Components Of Choice In The Rat: Reward Discrimination, Preference And Relative Valuation, Howard C. Cromwell, Justin J. Mcgraw, Luke Zona

Howard Casey Cromwell

Alcohol consumption impairs judgment and choice. How alcohol alters these crucial processes is primarily unknown. Choice can be fractionated into different components including reward discrimination, preference and relative valuation that can function together or in isolation depending upon diverse factors including choice context. We examined the diverse components and contextual effects by analyzing the effects of alcohol drinking on choice behavior in a task with a reduced level of temporal and spatial constraints. Rats were trained to drink 10% ethanol during 6 weeks of behavior testing using a combined sucrose-fade and two-bottle free-choice procedure. Two different sucrose pellet outcomes (e.g., …

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High-Fat Diet Increases Pain Behaviors In Rats With Or Without Obesity.Pdf, Sisi Chen Jun 2017

High-Fat Diet Increases Pain Behaviors In Rats With Or Without Obesity.Pdf, Sisi Chen

SISI CHEN

No abstract provided.

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Microarray Analysis Of Aging-Associated Immune System Alterations In The Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla Of F344 Rats, Sivasai Balivada, Chanran K. Ganta, Yongqing Zhang, Hitesh N. Pawar, Richard J. Ortiz, Kevin G. Becker, Arshad M. Khan, Michael J. Kenney Jun 2017

Microarray Analysis Of Aging-Associated Immune System Alterations In The Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla Of F344 Rats, Sivasai Balivada, Chanran K. Ganta, Yongqing Zhang, Hitesh N. Pawar, Richard J. Ortiz, Kevin G. Becker, Arshad M. Khan, Michael J. Kenney

Arshad M. Khan, Ph.D.

The rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) is an area of the brain stem that contains diverse neural substrates that are involved in systems critical for physiological function. There is evidence that aging affects some neural substrates within the RVLM, although age-related changes in RVLM molecular mechanisms are not well established. The goal of the present study was to characterize the transcriptomic profile of the aging RVLM and to test the hypothesis that aging is associated with altered gene expression in the RVLM, with an emphasis on immune system associated gene transcripts. RVLM tissue punches from young, middle-aged, and aged F344 rats …

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Effects Of Anandamide Administration On Components Of Reward Processing, Howard C. Cromwell May 2017

Effects Of Anandamide Administration On Components Of Reward Processing, Howard C. Cromwell

Howard Casey Cromwell

Previous research has implicated the positive modulation of anandamide, an endocannabinoid neurotransmitter,on feeding behavior. Anandamide is particularly noteworthy as it acts as an endogenous ligand of the CB1receptor, the same receptor that is activated by tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive component in Cannabis sativa. Cannabis legalization in North America has presented with a need to study endocannabinoid agonists and their effects on behavior. Much has yet to be determined in terms of the role of the endocannabinoid system in decision-making scenarios. The research presented here tested the hypothesis that anandamide wouldaugment motivation and reward processing via appetitive and …

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Why Animal Welfarism Continues To Fail, Lori Marino Apr 2017

Why Animal Welfarism Continues To Fail, Lori Marino

Lori Marino, PhD

Welfarism prioritizes human interests over the needs of nonhuman animals. Despite decades of welfare efforts other animals are mostly worse off than ever before, being subjected to increasingly invasive and harmful treatments, especially in the factory farming and biomedical research areas. A legal rights-based approach is essential in order for other animals to be protected from the varying ethical whims of our species.

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Discovery Of Thienoquinolone Derivatives As Selective And Atp Non-Competitive Cdk5/P25 Inhibitors By Structure-Based Virtual Screening, Arindam Chatterjee, Stephen J. Cutler, Robert J. Doerksen, Ikhlas A. Khan, John S. Williamson Mar 2017

Discovery Of Thienoquinolone Derivatives As Selective And Atp Non-Competitive Cdk5/P25 Inhibitors By Structure-Based Virtual Screening, Arindam Chatterjee, Stephen J. Cutler, Robert J. Doerksen, Ikhlas A. Khan, John S. Williamson

John S. Williamson

Calpain mediated cleavage of CDK5 natural precursor p35 causes a stable complex formation of CDK5/p25, which leads to hyperphosphorylation of tau. Thus inhibition of this complex is a viable target for numerous acute and chronic neurodegenerative diseases involving tau protein, including Alzheimer’s disease. Since CDK5 has the highest sequence homology with its mitotic counterpart CDK2, our primary goal was to design selective CDK5/p25 inhibitors targeting neurodegeneration. A novel structure-based virtual screening protocol comprised of e-pharmacophore models and virtual screening workflow was used to identify nine compounds from a commercial database containing 2.84 million compounds. An ATP non-competitive and selective thieno[3,2- …

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Multi-Scale Motility Amplitude Associated With Suicidal Thoughts In Major Depression, Premananda Indic, Greg Murray, Carlo Maggini, Mario Amore, Tiziana Meschi, Loris Borghi, Ross J. Baldessarini, Paola Salvatore Mar 2017

Multi-Scale Motility Amplitude Associated With Suicidal Thoughts In Major Depression, Premananda Indic, Greg Murray, Carlo Maggini, Mario Amore, Tiziana Meschi, Loris Borghi, Ross J. Baldessarini, Paola Salvatore

Premananda Indic

Major depression occurs at high prevalence in the general population, often starts in juvenile years, recurs over a lifetime, and is strongly associated with disability and suicide. Searches for biological markers in depression may have been hindered by assuming that depression is a unitary and relatively homogeneous disorder, mainly of mood, rather than addressing particular, clinically crucial features or diagnostic subtypes. Many studies have implicated quantitative alterations of motility rhythms in depressed human subjects. Since a candidate feature of great public-health significance is the unusually high risk of suicidal behavior in depressive disorders, we studied correlations between a measure (vulnerability …

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Casein Kinase 1 Delta (Ck1delta) Regulates Period Length Of The Mouse Suprachiasmatic Circadian Clock In Vitro, Jean-Pierre Etchegaray, Elizabeth A. Yu, Premananda Indic, Robert Dallmann, David R. Weaver Mar 2017

Casein Kinase 1 Delta (Ck1delta) Regulates Period Length Of The Mouse Suprachiasmatic Circadian Clock In Vitro, Jean-Pierre Etchegaray, Elizabeth A. Yu, Premananda Indic, Robert Dallmann, David R. Weaver

Premananda Indic

BACKGROUND: Casein kinase 1 delta (CK1delta) plays a more prominent role in the regulation of circadian cycle length than its homologue casein kinase 1 epsilon (CK1epsilon) in peripheral tissues such as liver and embryonic fibroblasts. Mice lacking CK1delta die shortly after birth, so it has not been possible to assess the impact of loss of CK1delta on behavioral rhythms controlled by the master circadian oscillator in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN).

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In the present study, mPER2::LUCIFERASE bioluminescence rhythms were monitored from SCN explants collected from neonatal mice. The data demonstrate that SCN explants from neonatal CK1delta-deficient mice oscillate, but …

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Experimental Exposure To Urban And Pink Noise Affects Brain Development And Song Learning In Zebra Finches (Taenopygia Guttata), Dominique A. Potvin, Michael T. Curcio, John P. Swaddle, Scott A. Macdougall-Shackleton Feb 2017

Experimental Exposure To Urban And Pink Noise Affects Brain Development And Song Learning In Zebra Finches (Taenopygia Guttata), Dominique A. Potvin, Michael T. Curcio, John P. Swaddle, Scott A. Macdougall-Shackleton

John Swaddle

Recently, numerous studies have observed changes in bird vocalizations—especially song—in urban habitats. These changes are often interpreted as adaptive, since they increase the active space of the signal in its environment. However, the proximate mechanisms driving cross-generational changes in song are still unknown. We performed a captive experiment to identify whether noise experienced during development affects song learning and the development of song-control brain regions. Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) were bred while exposed, or not exposed, to recorded traffic urban noise (Study 1) or pink noise (Study 2). We recorded the songs of male offspring and compared these to fathers’ …

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Antagonistic Serotonergic And Octopaminergic Neural Circuits Mediate Food-Dependent Locomotory Behavior In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Matthew A. Churgin, Richard J. Mccloskey, Emily Peters, Christopher Fang-Yen Dec 2016

Antagonistic Serotonergic And Octopaminergic Neural Circuits Mediate Food-Dependent Locomotory Behavior In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Matthew A. Churgin, Richard J. Mccloskey, Emily Peters, Christopher Fang-Yen

Christopher Fang-Yen

No abstract provided.

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Comparing Caenorhabditis Elegans Gentle And Harsh Touch Response Behavior Using A Multiplexed Hydraulic Microfluidic Device, Patrick D. Mcclanahan, Joyce Xu, Christopher Fang-Yen Dec 2016

Comparing Caenorhabditis Elegans Gentle And Harsh Touch Response Behavior Using A Multiplexed Hydraulic Microfluidic Device, Patrick D. Mcclanahan, Joyce Xu, Christopher Fang-Yen

Christopher Fang-Yen

The roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans is an important model system for understanding the genetics and physiology of touch. Classical assays for C. elegans touch, which involve manually touching the animal with a probe and observing its response, are limited by their low throughput and qualitative nature. We developed a microfluidic device in which several dozen animals are subject to spatially localized mechanical stimuli with variable amplitude. The device contains 64 sinusoidal channels through which worms crawl, and hydraulic valves that deliver touch stimuli to the worms. We used this assay to characterize the behavioral responses to gentle touch stimuli and the …

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Food Responsiveness Regulates Episodic Behavioral States In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Richard J. Mccloskey, Anthony D. Fouad, Matthew A. Churgin, Christopher Fang-Yen Dec 2016

Food Responsiveness Regulates Episodic Behavioral States In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Richard J. Mccloskey, Anthony D. Fouad, Matthew A. Churgin, Christopher Fang-Yen

Christopher Fang-Yen

Animals optimize sur- vival and reproduction in part through control of behavioral states, which depend on an organism’s internal and external environments. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans a variety of behavioral states have been described, including roaming, dwelling, quiescence, and episodic swimming. These states have been considered in isolation under varied experimental conditions, making it difficult to establish a unified picture of how they are regulated. Using long-term imaging, we examined C. elegans episodic behavioral states under varied mechanical and nutritional environments. We found that animals alternate between high-activity (active) and low-activity (sedentary) episodes in any mechanical environment, while the …

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Sensory Neurons Co-Opt Classical Immune Signaling Pathways To Mediate Chronic Itch.Pdf, Sisi Chen Dec 2016

Sensory Neurons Co-Opt Classical Immune Signaling Pathways To Mediate Chronic Itch.Pdf, Sisi Chen

SISI CHEN

No abstract provided.

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Sciatic Endometriosis Induces Mechanical Hypersensitivity,.Pdf, Sisi Chen Dec 2016

Sciatic Endometriosis Induces Mechanical Hypersensitivity,.Pdf, Sisi Chen

SISI CHEN

No abstract provided.

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Neurobiology Of The Premonitory Urge In Tourette's Syndrome: Pathophysiology And Treatment Implications, Andrea E. Cavanna, Kevin J. Black, Mark Hallett, Valerie Voon Dec 2016

Neurobiology Of The Premonitory Urge In Tourette's Syndrome: Pathophysiology And Treatment Implications, Andrea E. Cavanna, Kevin J. Black, Mark Hallett, Valerie Voon

Kevin J. Black, MD

Motor and vocal tics are relatively common motor manifestations identified as the core features of Tourette's syndrome (TS). Although traditional descriptions have focused on objective phenomenological observations, such as anatomical location, number and frequency of tics, patients' first-person accounts have consistently reported characteristic subjective correlates. These sensory phenomena are often described as a feeling of mounting inner tension or urge to move ("premonitory urge"), which is transiently relieved by tic expression. This article reviews the existing literature on the clinical and neurobiological aspects of the premonitory urge in patients with TS, with focus on its pathophysiology and possible treatment implications.

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Whole Genome Dna Methylation Sequencing Of The Chicken Retina, Cornea And Brain, Isac Lee, Bejan A. Rasoul, Ashton S. Holub, Alannah Lejeune, Raymond A. Enke, Winston Timp Dec 2016

Whole Genome Dna Methylation Sequencing Of The Chicken Retina, Cornea And Brain, Isac Lee, Bejan A. Rasoul, Ashton S. Holub, Alannah Lejeune, Raymond A. Enke, Winston Timp

Ray Enke Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

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