Life Sciences Commons^™

Effects Of Flight On Gene Expression And Aging In The Honey Bee Brain And Flight Muscle, Joseph Margotta, Georgina E. Mancinelli, Azucena A. Benito, Andrew Ammons, Stephen P. Roberts, Michelle M. Elekonich

Life Sciences Faculty Research

Honey bees move through a series of in-hive tasks (e.g., “nursing”) to outside tasks (e.g., “foraging”) that are coincident with physiological changes and higher levels of metabolic activity. Social context can cause worker bees to speed up or slow down this process, and foragers may revert back to their earlier in-hive tasks accompanied by reversion to earlier physiological states. To investigate the effects of flight, behavioral state and age on gene expression, we used whole-genome microarrays and real-time PCR. Brain tissue and flight muscle exhibited different patterns of expression during behavioral transitions, with expression patterns in the brain reflecting both …

Targeted Mutation Of Mouse Skeletal Muscle Sodium Channel Produces Myotonia And Potassium-Sensitive Weakness, Lawrence Hayward, Joanna Kim, Ming-Yang Lee, Hongru Zhou, Ji Kim, Kumudini Misra, Mohammad Salajegheh, Fen-Fen Wu, Shinji Matsuda, Valerie Reid, Didier Cros, Eric Hoffman, Jean-Marc Renaud, Stephen Cannon, Robert Brown

Dr Robert Brown

Hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HyperKPP) produces myotonia and attacks of muscle weakness triggered by rest after exercise or by K+ ingestion. We introduced a missense substitution corresponding to a human familial HyperKPP mutation (Met1592Val) into the mouse gene encoding the skeletal muscle voltage-gated Na+ channel NaV1.4. Mice heterozygous for this mutation exhibited prominent myotonia at rest and muscle fiber-type switching to a more oxidative phenotype compared with controls. Isolated mutant extensor digitorum longus muscles were abnormally sensitive to the Na+/K+ pump inhibitor ouabain and exhibited age-dependent changes, including delayed relaxation and altered generation of tetanic force. Moreover, rapid and sustained weakness …

Neuromuscular Function Following Lengthening Contractions, Geoffrey A. Power

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Unaccustomed lengthening contractions have been shown to impair muscle function - however little is known regarding this impairment on muscle power - specifically, the velocity component of power during voluntary contractions in humans. The four studies presented in my thesis investigated power-loss following lengthening contractions in healthy young and old women and young men.

The purpose of Study 1 was to determine reliability of velocity-dependent power of the dorsiflexors using the isotonic mode of the Biodex Dynamometer. I determined the isotonic mode is reliable and can be used to track changes in velocity and power following fatigue and lengthening contractions. …

Impaired Skeletal Muscle Blood Flow Control With Advancing Age In Humans: Attenuated Atp Release And Local Vasodilation During Erythrocyte Deoxygenation, Brett S. Kirby, Anne R. Crecelius, Wyatt F. Voyles, Frank A. Dinenno

Health and Sport Science Faculty Publications

Rationale: Skeletal muscle blood flow is coupled with the oxygenation state of hemoglobin in young adults, whereby the erythrocyte functions as an oxygen sensor and releases ATP during deoxygenation to evoke vasodilation. Whether this function is impaired in humans of advanced age is unknown.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that older adults demonstrate impaired muscle blood flow and lower intravascular ATP during conditions of erythrocyte deoxygenation.

Methods and Results: We showed impaired forearm blood flow responses during 2 conditions of erythrocyte deoxygenation (systemic hypoxia and graded handgrip exercise) with age, which was caused by reduced local vasodilation. In young adults, …

Truncation, Cross-Linking And Interaction Of Crystallins And Intermediate Filament Proteins In The Aging Human Lens, Roger Truscott, Jason Mcarthur, Andrew Aquilina, Shi-Ping (Jim) Su

J. A. Aquilina

The optical properties of the lens are dependent upon the integrity of proteins within the fiber cells. During aging, crystallins, the major intra-cellular structural proteins of the lens, aggregate and become water-insoluble. Modifications to crystallins and the lens intermediate filaments have been implicated in this phenomenon. In this study, we examined changes to, and interactions between, human lens crystallins and intermediate filament proteins in lenses from a variety of age groups (0-86 years). Among the lens-specific intermediate filament proteins, filensin was extensively cleaved in all postnatal lenses, with truncated products of various sizes being found in both the lens cortical …

The Effects Of A Short Term Novel Aquatic Exercise Program On Functional Strength And Performance Of Older Adults, H. Scott Kieffer, Marie Attanasi Lehman, Danielle M. Veacock, Laura Korkuch

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 5(4) : 321-333, 2012. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a short-term novel multidimensional aquatic exercise program on functional abilities of healthy older adults. Twenty-six men and women (mean age 76.33 + 5.55 years) were recruited and assigned to an aquatic- (n = 15) or land-based (n = 11) training group. The aquatic training group completed a multidimensional water exercise program that incorporated resistance training, functional exercise movements and rudimentary aquatic plyometric activities. The active control group participated in a supervised land-based fitness program. Each exercise intervention was conducted over …

Neuroprotective Effects Of Long-Term Endurance Training On The Cortical Autonomic Network In The Aging Brain, Torri A. Luchyshyn

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study tested whether long-term endurance training in older adults (ET; n = 15, 55 ± 4 years, relative VO₂max = 50 ± 8 ml/kg/min) would alter cardiovagal control and preserve the cortical autonomic network compared to age-matched controls (CON; n = 15, 56 ± 4 years, relative VO₂max = 37 ± 9 ml/kg/min). The hypothesis predicts 1) altered deactivation patterns of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) in response to isometric hand grip (IHG) and 2) greater indices of cardiovagal control; a) increased baroreflex sensitivity at rest, b) greater heart rate change (ΔHR) and c) …

Chronic Exercise Modifies Age-Related Telomere Dynamics In A Tissue-Specific Fashion, Andrew T. Ludlow, Sarah Witkowski, Mallory R. Marshall, Jenny Wang, Laila C.J. Lima, Lisa M. Guth, Espen E. Spangenburg, Stephen M. Roth

Exercise and Sport Studies: Faculty Publications

We evaluated the impact of long-term exercise on telomere dynamics in wild-derived short telomere mice (CAST/Ei) over 1 year. We observed significant telomere shortening in liver and cardiac tissues in sedentary 1-year-old mice compared with young (8 weeks) baseline mice that were attenuated in exercised 1-year-old animals. In contrast, skeletal muscle exhibited significant telomere shortening in exercise mice compared with sedentary and young mice. Telomerase enzyme activity was increased in skeletal muscle of exercise compared with sedentary animals but was similar in cardiac and liver tissues. We observed significant age-related decreases in expression of telomere-related genes that were attenuated by …

Peripheral Nerve Injury Increases Glutamate-Evoked Calcium Mobilization In Adult Spinal Cord Neurons, Suzanne Doolen, Camille B. Blake, Bret N. Smith, Bradley K. Taylor

Physiology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Central sensitization in the spinal cord requires glutamate receptor activation and intracellular Ca2+ mobilization. We used Fura-2 AM bulk loading of mouse slices together with wide-field Ca2+ imaging to measure glutamate-evoked increases in extracellular Ca2+ to test the hypotheses that: 1. Exogenous application of glutamate causes Ca2+ mobilization in a preponderance of dorsal horn neurons within spinal cord slices taken from adult mice; 2. Glutamate-evoked Ca2+ mobilization is associated with spontaneous and/or evoked action potentials; 3. Glutamate acts at glutamate receptor subtypes to evoked Ca2+ transients; and 4. The magnitude of glutamate-evoked Ca2+ responses increases in the setting of …

Early Stage Drug Treatment That Normalizes Proinflammatory Cytokine Production Attenuates Synaptic Dysfunction In A Mouse Model That Exhibits Age-Dependent Progression Of Alzheimer's Disease-Related Pathology, Adam D. Bachstetter, Christopher M. Norris, Pradoldej Sompol, Donna M. Wilcock, Danielle Goulding, Janna H. Neltner, Daret St. Clair, D. Martin Watterson, Linda J. Van Eldik

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines in the CNS has been implicated as a key contributor to pathophysiology progression in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and extensive studies with animal models have shown that selective suppression of excessive glial proinflammatory cytokines can improve neurologic outcomes. The prior art, therefore, raises the logical postulation that intervention with drugs targeting dysregulated glial proinflammatory cytokine production might be effective disease-modifying therapeutics if used in the appropriate biological time window. To test the hypothesis that early stage intervention with such drugs might be therapeutically beneficial, we examined the impact of intervention with MW01-2-151SRM (MW-151), an experimental therapeutic that …

Localization Of Low Molecular Weight Crystallin Peptides In The Aging Human Lens Using A Maldi Mass Spectrometry Imaging Approach, S. P. Su, Jason D. Mcarthur, J. A. Aquilina

J. A. Aquilina

Low molecular weight (LMW) peptides, derived from the breakdown of the major eye lens proteins, the crystallins, accumulate in the human lens with age. These LMW peptides are associated with age-related lens opacity and cataract, with some shown to inhibit the chaperone activity of α-crystallin. However, the mechanism(s) giving rise to the production of these peptides, as well as their distribution within the lens, are not well understood. In this study, we have mapped the distribution of these crystallin-derived peptides present in human lenses of different ages using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI-IMS). Our data showed that most of …

The Challenges Of Nutrition And Aging, Linda C. Tapsell

L. C. Tapsell

From the time of birth and throughout the lifecycle, the human organism depends on food and nutrients to sustain its growth, development and functionality. With increasing knowledge of biological processes within the human body, the term ‘you are what you eat’, takes on more and more meaning. One of the new levels of understanding relates to the interaction of food components with genes to set off cascades of events that affect health and disease (1). This new understanding provides a detailed view of the dynamic relationship between genes and the environment, represented through food. Our health, our lifespan, can be …

Hippocampal Ca1 Transcriptional Profile Of Sleep Deprivation: Relation To Aging And Stress, Nada M. Porter, Julia H. Bohannon, Meredith Curran-Rauhut, Heather M. Buechel, Amy L.S. Dowling, Lawrence D. Brewer, Jelena Popovic, Veronique Thibault, Susan D. Kraner, Kuey-Chu Chen, Eric M. Blalock

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Many aging changes seem similar to those elicited by sleep-deprivation and psychosocial stress. Further, sleep architecture changes with age suggest an age-related loss of sleep. Here, we hypothesized that sleep deprivation in young subjects would elicit both stress and aging-like transcriptional responses.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: F344 rats were divided into control and sleep deprivation groups. Body weight, adrenal weight, corticosterone level and hippocampal CA1 transcriptional profiles were measured. A second group of animals was exposed to novel environment stress (NES), and their hippocampal transcriptional profiles measured. A third cohort exposed to control or SD was used to validate transcriptional results …

Influence Of A Short-Term, Multicomponent Intervention On Balance And Strength Among The Elderly, Pamela C. Webert

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Background: Few studies have combined strength and balance training to assess improvement of activities of daily living among subjects over the age of 65. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate how an eight-week balance and strength training program can lead to improvements in activities of daily living among elderly individuals.

Methods: The subjects consisted of 14 elderly women and 3 elderly men who were all residents of an independent living community. There were 10 subjects in the intervention group and 7 subjects in the control group. The intervention group participated in a supervised balance and strength …

Lower Extremities Muscle Strength Associated With Early Signs Of Mobility Dependence Among Older Adults Age 65 Years And Older, Moshe Marko

Exercise Science - Dissertations

Background: Loss of muscle strength is evident even in apparently healthy older adults. functionally limited due to an increasing discrepancy between their own physiological capabilities (i.e. physiological impairments) and the challenges set forth by the environment. Functional limitations lead to clinical mobility disability. Clinical mobility disability is associated with physical dependence, poor quality of life, and mortality. Treatment of age-related clinical mobility disability should focus on the prevention of the condition rather than its consequences. Identifying opportunities for early screening and prevention of clinical mobility disability requires a better understanding of the functional loss prior to this medical condition. …

Sensitivity Of The Wolf’S And Rostein’S Algorithms To Evaluate Local Dynamic Stability From Small Gait Data Sets, Fabien Cignetti, Leslie M. Decker, Nikolaos Stergiou

Journal Articles

The Wolf’s (W-algorithm) and Rosenstein’s (R-algorithm) algorithms have been used to quantify local dynamic stability (largest Lyapunov exponent, λ ₁) in gait, with prevalence of the latter one that is considered more suitable for small data sets. However, such a claim has never been investigated. To address it, the λ ₁ of the Lorenz attractor was estimated using small data sets and varied delays and embedding dimensions. Overall, the λ ₁ estimates from the R-algorithm got closer to the theoretical exponent than those from the W-algorithm. The W-algorithm also overestimated λ _{1 …}

Development Of Methods For Assessing The Effect Of Moisture And Aging On Sliceability Of Cheese, Jess Perrie

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Sliceability is a cheese’s ability to cut cleanly into thin slices, resist breakage or fracture at slices edges, and undergo a high level of bending before breaking. Intuitively, sliceability depends on the chemistry, microstructural, and rheological properties of the casein network. Currently there is no reported scientific research investigating evaluation methods of cheese slice quality, as well as properties that influence a cheese’s ability to slice.

In this study, a method for slice quality evaluation was developed on purchased cheese and performed on commercial cheeses and experimental cheeses manufactured at three different moisture contents (40.6%, 37.0%, and 33.9%). In addition, …

Effects Of Thymus Size And Involution On The Contribution Of Recent Thymic Emigrants To The Peripheral T Cell Pool, Michelle L. Bolner

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

The contribution of recent thymic emigrants (RTEs) to the peripheral naïve T cell population is necessary to maintain diversity of the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire and produce immune responses against newly encountered antigens.

The thymus involutes with age, after irradiation or chemotherapy, and due to severe viral infections. Thymus involution results in decreased thymopoiesis and RTE output leading to a reduced diversity of peripheral T cells. This increases susceptibility to disease and impairs immune responsiveness to vaccines. Therefore, studies aimed at maintaining or regenerating thymic function are integral for maintaining and restoring peripheral TCR diversity.

Mice that express a …

Exercise Ameliorates Disruption Of The Dystrophin-Associated Glycoprotein Complex And Fibrosis In The Aging Rat Heart, Yang Lee, Jeffrey M. Hord, Hyo-Bum Kwak, Jong-Hee Kim, John M. Lawler

International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings

The dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC) is localized and integrated into the cell membrane. The DGC provides a mechanical link between the cellular cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix (ECM). In cardiac muscle, disruption of DGC might be involved in mediating cardiac remodeling that occurs with aging, cardiomyopathy, and heart failure through transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-ß). Decorin is a small leucine-rich proteoglycan closely related to the DGC component that binds to collagen. Decorin reduces fibrosis via inhibition of TGF-ß and myofibroblast formation. PURPOSE: To test the hypothesis that exercise training (ET) would alleviate age-related disruption of localization in DGC proteins (dystrophin, α-syntrophin, and …

Increase In Muscle Power Induced By Periodized Resistance Training In Elderly Women, Cláudio De Oliveira Assumpção, João Bartholomeu Neto, Christiano Bertoldo Urtado, Maria Imaculada L. Montebelo

International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings

Resistance training (RT) has been recommended to prevent muscle force and power decrease induced by aging. Neuromuscular tests are important tools to analyze muscle force function. The objective of the present study was to analyze the behavior of lower limb muscle power of elderly women submitted to 12 weeks of periodized RT. 16 women aged 65.5±3.6 years with a minimum of one year of previous experience in strength training were selected, they performed 24 sessions of RT divided in 3 mesocycles (MA, MB and MC), of 8 sessions each, with a session frequency of twice a week. The MA with …

Aging And Down Syndrome, Elizabeth Head, Wayne Silverman, David Patterson, Ira T. Lott

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Promoting Thymopoiesis With Age: Potential Role Of The Transcription Factor Foxn1, Erin Christine Zook

Dissertations

It is known that the elderly are more susceptible to illnesses and infections and respond poorly to immunization. A contributing factor to a decrease in the immune response in the elderly is the decline in the production of naïve T cell by the thymus. In the thymus, the notch receptor expressed on early T cell progenitors (ETP) binds to its ligand expressed on thymic epithelial cells (TEC), signaling ETP to develop through a series of developmental stages before maturing into naive T cells. Because ETP are non-self renewing, the thymus relies on the bone marrow (BM) for a continuous supply …

The Molecular And Behavioral Characterization Of Cav1.3 Over-Expressing Mice, Jamie Nicole Slater

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Age-related cognitive decline refers to the memory impairment and difficulty learning new tasks that occurs during the normal process of aging. There are many possible changes that occur at the neuronal level that could account for age-related cognitive decline. One hypothesis suggests that a dysregulation of neuronal intracellular calcium concentration contributes to age-related cognitive deficits. Previous research suggests that an increase in neuronal L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (LVGCCs) occurs in the brain during aging. This increase could account for altered intracellular calcium concentration and lead to agerelated cognitive decline. A line of transgenic mice that over-express the LVGCC Ca_{V …}

Aging, Stem Cells And The Cancer Stem Cell Hypothesis, Dave Comstock

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Aging, Neuromuscular Decline, And The Change In Physiological And Behavioral Complexity Of Upper-Limb Movement Dynamics, S. Morrison, K. M. Newell

Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications

Aging is characterized by a general decline in physiological and behavioral function that has been widely interpreted within the context of the loss of complexity hypothesis. In this paper, we examine the relation between aging, neuromuscular function and physiological-behavioral complexity in the arm-hand effector system, specifically with reference to physiological tremor and isometric force production. Experimental findings reveal that the adaptive behavioral consequences of the aging-related functional decline in neurophysiological processes are less pronounced in simple motor tasks which provides support for the proposition that the motor output is influenced by both extrinsic (e.g., task related) and intrinsic (e.g., coordination, …