Molecular Biology Commons^™

Ck2 Negatively Regulates 5-Ht4 Receptor Signaling In The Prefrontal Cortex And Mediates Depression-Like Behaviors, Julia Castello Saval

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The serotonergic system has been the major candidate in the pathophysiology of mood related disorders such as anxiety and major depressive disorder (MDD). Unfortunately, current antidepressant drugs are ineffective in 50% of the population and require chronic administration for a period of 3-6 weeks before the onset of therapeutic response. 5-HT4 receptor (5-HT₄R) agonists have emerged as potential candidates for fast antidepressant action, since an antidepressant response can be achieved after 3 days of pharmacological administration in rodents.

This dissertation aims to investigate the role of casein kinase 2 (CK2) as a regulator of 5-HT₄R expression …

Pharmacological Antagonism And The Olfactory Code, Mihwa Na

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Mammals can detect and discriminate uncountable odors through their odorant receptors. To accommodate the countless and diverse odors, exceptionally large numbers of odorant receptor (OR) genes are expressed in mammals. In addition, the mammals utilize a combinatorial code, where an odorant molecule can activate multiple ORs; an OR also responds to a set of multiple odorants. In nature, an odor is often a complex mixture of multiple odorant molecules. The combination of the ORs activated by each constituent generates the unique olfactory code for the particular odor.

Some odorants can antagonize select ORs, as discussed in Chapter 1. An antagonist …

Messenger Rna Transport And Translation Regulated By The 3' Utrs Of Dendritic Mrnas And Abnormal Alternative Splicing Of Neuroligin1 In The Fmr1 Ko Mouse Hippocampus, Tianhui Zhu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is one of the most commonly inherited mental retardations. It is caused by the loss of functional fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP). Loss of functional FMRP is the most widespread single-gene cause of autism. The most prominent phenotype of FXS patients is an IQ ranging from 20 to 70. FMRP is an RNA binding protein, widely expressed in almost all tissues and highly expressed in brain. As a RNA binding protein, 85-90 % of FMRP in the brain is associated with polyribosomes. Approximately 4 % of total mRNA is associated with FMRP, which functions in …