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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Examining The Emergence Of Mood And Anxiety Molecular Phenotypes Resulting From Chronic Prenatal Nicotine Exposure In Cerebral Organoids, Emma K. Proud
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Prenatal nicotine exposure (PNE) from maternal smoking disrupts regulatory processes vital to fetal development. These changes result in long-term behavioural impairments, including mood and anxiety disorders, that manifest later in life. However the relationship underlying PNE, and the underpinnings of mood/anxiety molecular phenotypes remains elusive. To model nicotine exposure during prenatal development, our study used human cerebral organoids that were chronically exposed to nicotine and collected for molecular analyses. Short-term, nicotine altered molecular markers of neural identity, mood/anxiety disorders and those involved in maintaining the excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) balance in the cortex. RNA sequencing further revealed transcriptomic changes in genes pertaining …
Role Of The Default-Mode Network During Narrative Integration In Major Depressive Disorder, Darren Ri-Sheng Liang
Role Of The Default-Mode Network During Narrative Integration In Major Depressive Disorder, Darren Ri-Sheng Liang
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
How brain activity is synchronized across individuals during narrative comprehension has previously been characterized by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in healthy and patient populations. To our knowledge, there has been limited investigation as to how it is affected by major depressive disorder (MDD). We addressed this issue with fMRI through examination of inter-subject synchronization in the default mode network (DMN), brain structures which have previously been implicated in MDD pathology. Twenty-two patients with MDD and 20 matched control participants listened to Intact versus Scrambled versions of an auditory narrative; these experimental conditions differed in the degree of temporal integration …
The Role Of Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis In Depression-Relevant Reward-Related Behaviours, Katrina Zmavc
The Role Of Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis In Depression-Relevant Reward-Related Behaviours, Katrina Zmavc
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The variability in the symptomatology of depressive disorders and antidepressant treatment response has led to an increased interest in the molecular, cellular, and circuit mechanisms of many aspects of affect. Evidence suggests a reduction in adult hippocampal neurogenesis (AHN) is associated with an increase in depression-like behaviour, though much of this evidence has been from studies using aversive tests (e.g., forced swim test). Here, I used touchscreen operant chambers, which allow for non-aversive and translational testing, to test the hypothesis that AHN plays a contributing role in emotion regulation. A panel of three touchscreen tests were chosen to assess different …
Associations Between Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis System Gene Variants And Cortisol Reactivity In Preschoolers: Main Effects And Gene-Environment Interactions, Haroon I. Sheikh
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Exposure to stressful events during early development has consistently been shown to produce long lasting effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which may increase vulnerability to mood and anxiety disorders. Recently reported genetic association studies indicate that these disorders may be influenced, in part, by gene-environment interactions (GxE) involving polymorphisms within the corticotrophin-releasing hormone and monoaminergic system genes. However, little is known about how genetic variants and life stress work to shape children’s neuroendocrine reactivity and emerging symptoms. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to examine main effects of candidate genes and GxE on the neuroendocrine stress response and …
Sexual Reward And Depression, Andrea R. Di Sebastiano
Sexual Reward And Depression, Andrea R. Di Sebastiano
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Sexual behavior in male rats is a complex rewarding behavior and many neurotransmitters and neuropeptides play an important role in mediation of sexual performance, motivation and reward. The hypothalamic neuropeptide orexin has been shown play a key role in reward associated with food and drugs of abuse, but the role of this neuropeptide in control of sexual performance, motivation and reward is currently unclear. First, it was shown that orexin neurons in the hypothalamus are activated during sexual performance and reward. Next, using cell specific lesions of orexin neurons it was demonstrated that orexin is involved in arousal and anxiety, …