Cell and Developmental Biology Commons^™

Exploring The Role Of Dopamine And Atp In Microglial Motility, Derek Langford, Jordan Yorgas, Christopher Galbraith, Channing Syme, Brayden Parker, Savannah Evans, Derek Langford, Eliza White, Erin Taylor, Lauren Ford, Hillary Wadsworth

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2024

►Recent studies from our laboratory have identified that dopamine and ATP in the Nucleus Accubmens (NAc) are co-released.

►ATP is a chemoattractant for macrophages in general, and microglia specifically, suggesting that dopamine and ATP corelease may function to alter microglia activity.

►The present work characterizes the effects of microglia activation via lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on dopamine terminal function, and the effects of dopamine and ATP on microglia motility.

A Descriptive Analysis Of Severe Maternal Morbidities In Southern Arizona, Joseph Sherman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Introduction

Maternal morbidities and maternal deaths are rising at an alarming rate throughout the United States, despite advances in medicine and technology (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020). In 2020, maternal deaths climbed to its highest peak in thirty years, at 23.8 deaths per 100,000 births (CDC 2020; CDC 2022b). Maternal morbidities have also increased by nearly 200% from 1993 to 2014 (CDC, 2021). The startling rise in both maternal morbidities and maternal deaths is likely exacerbated by limited access to healthcare and the pervasiveness of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease (Carroll, 2017; Geller …

Chimeric Claudins Reveal Role In Neural Tube Defects, Wesley Allen, Nathan Beckett, Emma Brenchley, Jacob Wengler, Lauren Hall, Cailey Winn, Meredith Mann, Sion Jung, Spencer Thacker, Rachel May, Dario Mizrachi, Micheal Stark

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2022

Claudins (CLDN), a family of proteins found in the tight junction, play a major role in membrane permeability. While claudin disruption is known to contribute to the formation of neural tube defects (NTD), current research methods rely heavily on a non-specific toxin, CPE, when exploring the importance of CLDNs within neural tube formation. This makes it difficult to identify individual CLDN’s contribution to NTD formation, creating a need for a more specific method.

Staying Hydrated: A Comparative Analysis Of Humectants In Human Skin, Ayden Olsen, Rachel Prince, Craig Reeves, Cassie Peterson, Jason Adams

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2022

Humectants are an important class of compounds that attract and retain water within a cell. When mixed with water to create wetting solutions, humectants can prevent desiccation of cadaveric specimens. Recognizing a relative scarcity of comparative studies analyzing the effects of various wetting solutions on post preservation cadaveric maintenance, we utilized wet-dry analysis in order to compare the effects of four common humectants on water retention in human skin tissue. We created a concentration gradient for each humectant to identify the optimal concentrations of each compound for water retention, after which we compared water retention in tissue at the optimal …

New Treatment For Multiple Sclerosis Could Halt Disease Progression Without Weakening Immune System, Carter Helquist, Dario Mizrachi

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2022

• Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating neurological and autoimmune disease in which immune cells cause demyelination of axons in nervous tissue.
• Current treatments for the disease are principally aimed at weakening the immune system to therefore weaken the autoimmune attack on the brain. This leaves patients prone to other sicknesses.
• We seek a treatment that prevents the immune cells from entering the central nervous system (CNS) thereby protecting its cells.
• We can prevent immune cells from entering the CNS by strengthening the blood brain barrier through targeting claudin 5 proteins in the tight junctions.
• This new treatment could mean increased …

A Ketogenic Diet Enhances Hippocampal Mitochondrial Efficiency, Cali E. Warren, Erin R. Saito, Benjamin T. Bikman

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2022

Mitochondrial dysfunction and cognitive impairment are common symptoms in many neurologic disorders, as well as in nonpathological aging. Ketones have been suggested as therapeutic for their relevance in epilepsy and other neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, and major depressive disorder.

Identifying And Knocking Out Non-Visual Opsins In The Optic Tectum Of Zebrafish Larvae, Sarah Jarrett

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Deep brain photoreceptors (DBPs) are non-visual photoreceptors found in the brains of non-mammalian vertebrates like zebrafish. While using optogenetic techniques in our lab to photo-activate the ear (by expressing the light-gated channel: channelrhodopsin) in efforts of identifying optic tectum (OT) neurons that respond to and integrate auditory and visual stimuli, we found that violet light was able to elicit OT neuronal activity. OT activity was also detected in cases when visual and auditory stimulation was not possible due to removal of the eyes and absence of the exogenously expressed channelrhodopsin, respectively. Analyzing OT single-cell sequencing data of 7day post fertilization …

Racial And Ethnic Minority Groups Are Under-Represented And Under-Reported In Guideline-Informing Heart Failure Clinical Trials, Gerardo Gamino

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Heart failure (HF) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States that may disproportionately affect certain racial/ethnic groups. Compared with White individuals, HF may affect Black individuals at a younger age with less favorable prognosis, and this excess risk may be partially explained by differences in HF risk factor burden. It is crucial for guideline informing HF clinical trials to adequately reflect the racial/ethnic diversity in the population. We assessed the extent of reporting and representation of race/ethnicity in HF clinical trials referenced in the 2013 ACC/AHA Guideline for the Management of Heart Failure and the …

Biological Pretreatment Of Biomass For Enhanced Biogas Production, Skylar F. Van Horne

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The biogas output efficiency of controlled anaerobic digestion (AD) can be enhanced by several different pretreatment methods to produce renewable energy. According to the literature, there are pros and cons to each pretreatment method. Biological pretreatment provides environmentally safe and renewable means for enhancing biodegradability and net energy output. Current research has yet to reliably demonstrate the ability of bacterial strains, such as Caldicellulosiruptor bescii (C. bescii), to digest common waste substrates in efficient ways. Novel methods in key intermediate molecular quantification and alkalinity tracking are used here to explore C. bescii’s ability to digest lignocellulosic material in …

Low-Cost Diagnostics: Using Paper As A Material And Pens As An Instrument, Annie Armitstead

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Lateral flow immunoassays (LFIs) are equipment-free tests that produce results quickly using small sample volumes. Colored lines appear as the test runs, indicating the presence of a biomarker. LFIs are ideal in a variety of settings. Development of these assays can be complicated for small team operations, and tests are not sufficiently adaptable for low resource settings. If robust point-of-care tests can be developed on site, they can expand the reach of global diagnostics, improving health around the world. We report a simple empowering LFI (seLFI) that only requires treated printer paper and a plastic backing card. This eliminates the …

Role Of Transient Receptor Potential Channels In Epithelial Morphogenesis In Chick Embryo, Trinity Q. Waddell

Theses and Dissertations

Transient Receptor Potential channels (TRP) are a superfamily of cationic specific ionchannels that are regulated by various stimuli such as temperature, pH, mechanical stress, ligandsand ion concentration. The role of TRP channels in disease states such as autosomal dominantpolycystic kidney disease, cancer metastasis, and developmental defects lend credence to thebelief that they play an important part in epithelial morphogenesis events. The development ofsomites, neural tube closure and migration of neural crest cells to form things such as the faceand heart is a good developmental model for the aforementioned cellular processes. We haveshown that TRP channels can be found in the …

Computational Modelling Of Peptides Containing Non-Standard Amino Acids, David W. Kastner

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Peptides represent a class of abundant and potent pharmaceutic compounds. Despite their appeal, the design, synthesis, and engineering of biologically relevant peptides remain a challenge. Chapter 1 introduces the various computational methods that will be used. Chapter 2 focuses on the incorporation of a special class of amino acids called bulky dehydroamino acids into the turn of β-hairpins to proteolytically stabilize peptides. Our results suggest that dehydroamino acids confer proteolytic stability by favoring a more folded state. Chapter 3 describes the structural calculations of a rare anticancer peptide called Yaku’amide using a combined molecular mechanics/quantum mechanics hybrid method. The …

The Role Of Hypoxia On Pyruvate Kinase M2, Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin, Mitochondrial Function, And Cell Invasion In The Trophoblast, Rebecca Lutz Kimball

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will be organized into two chapters discussing the role of hypoxia in the human placenta. The goal of this thesis is to characterize pyruvate kinase M2, mammalian target of rapamycin, mitochondrial function, and cell invasion in hypoxic conditions in the trophoblast. Understanding the mechanisms of placental metabolism can lead to further treatments for placental diseases. Chapter one covers the background of intrauterine growth restriction, hypoxia, placental metabolism, and pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2). Little is currently understood about the role of the mitochondria in placental diseases. Expression of PKM2, trophoblast cell invasion, and mitochondrial function is shown to be …

Third Ventricle Width As A Metric For Fast And Efficient Detection Of Atrophy In Traumatic Brain Injury, Christopher Scott Finuf

Theses and Dissertations

In an average year more than 1.7 million people will experience a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the United States. It is known that atrophy occurs across a spectrum for TBI patients, ranging from mild to severe. Current conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods are inconsistent in detecting this atrophy on the milder end of the spectrum. Also more contemporary imaging tools, although efficient, are too time consuming for clinical applicability. It is for these reasons that a quick and efficient measurement for detecting this atrophy is needed by clinicians. The measuring of third ventricle width had the potential to …

The Anatomy Of Porcine And Human Larynges: Structural Analysis And High Resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of The Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve, Nena Lundgreen Mason

Theses and Dissertations

The recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) innervates all the intrinsic muscles of the larynx that are responsible for human vocalization and language. The RLN runs along the tracheoesophageal groove bilaterally and is often accidentally damaged or transected during head and neck surgical procedures. RLN palsy and vocal cord paralysis are the most common and serious post op complications of thyroid surgeries. Patients who suffer from RLN injury can develop unilateral or bilateral vocal fold paralysis (BVFP). Theoretically, selective reinnervation of the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle would be the best treatment for BVFP. The phrenic nerve has been shown in several studies to …

Iron As A Biomarker For Alzheimer’S Disease, Samual Barlow, Dr. Jonathan Wisco

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the highest causes of death in the United States. After the age of 65, the chance of getting Alzheimer’s doubles every five years. As the average lifespan of Americans increases, the importance of understanding AD and finding more efficient ways to treat it increases as well. The earlier AD is treated, the more effectively we are able to treat it. Non-heme iron (Fe) has been shown to spatially correlate with Abeta. Since Fe causes a signal dropout in susceptibility-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), this imaging modality could possibly be used as a way to …

Differential Receptors For Advanced Glycation End-Products (Rage) Expression In Preeclampsia, Intrauterine Growth Restriction And Gestational Diabetes, Kristen Lena Alexander

Theses and Dissertations

Preeclampsia (PE), intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and gestational diabetes (GDM) increase the risk of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. The roles of Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs) are already well documented concerning inflammation, hypoxia and oxidative stress. AGEs bind to its receptor, Receptor for Advanced Glycation End-products (RAGE), and activate an inflammatory pathway. This pathway alters the efficacy of invasive trophoblast cells and in the placenta and can result in placental dysfunction. We hypothesized that the placental dysfunction found in PE, IUGR, and GDM resulted from an over activation of the RAGE-mediated inflammatory pathway. Using human placental samples, we found …

The Effects Of Inhibiting Wnt Secretion And Activity On Cranial And Neural Development, Julie Louise Hulet

Theses and Dissertations

Wnt signaling has been shown to have several roles in the development of sensory neurons, particularly in the ophthalmic portion of the trigeminal nerve. Many of these studies have relied on the conclusion that Wnt is necessary but not sufficient for the induction and maintenance of the neural precursor cells that develop in the ophthalmic placode. Wnt had been inhibited in the ophthalmic placode using a dominant negative t-cell factor (TCF) and resulted in the loss of Pax3 expression (indicative of undifferentiated placode cells) in all targeted cells, suggesting a loss of specification/commitment of these cells to the sensory neuron …

Cigarette Smoke Increases Cardiomyocyte Ceramide Accumulation And Inhibits Mitochondrial Respiration, Trevor Stanley Tippetts

Theses and Dissertations

Cigarette smoking is a common and lethal worldwide habit, with considerable mortality stemming from its deleterious effects on heart function. While current theories posit altered blood lipids and fibrinogen metabolism as likely mediators, none have explored the role of the sphingolipid ceramide in exacerbating heart function with smoke exposure. Ceramide production is a consequence of cigarette smoke in the lung, and considering ceramide's harmful effects on mitochondrial function, we sought to elucidate the role of ceramide in mediating smoke-induced altered heart mitochondrial respiration. Lung cells were exposed to cigarette smoke extract and heart cells were exposed to the lung-cell conditioned …

The Role Of Receptors For Advanced Glycation End-Products (Rage) And Ceramide In Cardiovascular Disease, Michael Bruce Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Type 2 diabetes and cigarette smoke exposure are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular complications. The role of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) is already well-established in numerous comorbidities including cardiomyopathy. Given the role of AGEs and their receptor, RAGE, in activating inflammatory pathways, we sought to determine whether ceramides could be a mediator of RAGE-induced altered heart mitochondrial function. Using an in vitro model, we treated H9C2 cardiomyocytes with carboxy-methyl lysine-BSA, followed by mitochondrial respiration assessment. We found that mitochondrial respiration was significantly impaired in AGE-treated cells, but not when co-treated with myriocin, an inhibitor of de novo …

The Biology Of Claudin 6 (Cldn6) In The Developing Mouse Lung, Felix Ruben Jimenez Rondan

Theses and Dissertations

The tight junctions (TJ), which are located in the apical region between epithelial and endothelial cells, regulate the paracellular diffusion of ions and small molecules and play an important role in maintaining cell polarity, cell-cell integrity, and permeability. In the lung, epithelial cells are attached by TJ structures. They provide a permeable barrier and cell communication. The loss of barrier integrity, which is maintained by the expression of claudins (Cldn), results in cellular permibilization and leads to paracellular diffusion of solutes and harmful molecules. There are 27 known Cldn homologous members in mice and human. Cldn6 is mostly expressed in …

Alcohol Modulation Of Dopamine Release, Nathan Dan Schilaty

Theses and Dissertations

The mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system projects from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to structures associated with the limbic system, primarily the nucleus accumbens (NAc). This system has been implicated in the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse. Many drugs of abuse act in the VTA, the NAc, or both. Dopamine neurons in the VTA that project to the NAc, and the GABA neurons that inhibit DA neurons locally in the VTA or project to the NAc, play an important role in mediating addiction to various drugs of abuse, in particular alcohol. There is a growing body of evidence of co-dependence …

The Role Of Ceramides In Mediating Endotoxin-Induced Mitochondrial Disruption, Melissa Ellen Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

Ceramides are sphingolipids that serve as important second messengers in an increasing number of stress-induced pathways. Ceramide has long been known to affect the mitochondria, altering both morphology and physiology. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a prevalent circulating inflammatory agent in obesity, potentially mediating some of the pathologies associated with weight gain. Given previous findings of TLR4-mediated ceramide accrual and ceramide-mediated mitochondrial disruption, we questioned whether ceramide is necessary for LPS-induced mitochondrial disruption. We found that LPS treatment increased gene transcript levels of ceramide synthesis enzymes and mitochondrial fission proteins and increased ceramide content in cultured myotubes and in mouse tissue. Mitochondrial …

Extent Of Cysteine Modification Of Snap-25 In Vitro, Alex Mcgregor Dabell

Theses and Dissertations

Exocytosis, the fusion of a vesicle to a cellular membrane, involves a protein named SNAP-25. This protein, containing two alpha helices connected with a linker region, is localized to the cell membrane via palmitic acids attached to the cysteine residues of its linker region in a process called palmitoylation. Are cysteine residues of the SNAP-25 linker region palmitoylated in an ordered manner and to a particular extent? The answer to this question may give insight into the regulated nature of exocytosis. While it is generally accepted that SNAP-25 must be palmitoylated in order to perform its exocytotic functions, the details …

Targeting Of Receptors For Advanced Glycation End-Products (Rage) Diminishes Acute Secondhand Smoke-Induced Inflammation In Mice, Tyler Thomas Wood

Theses and Dissertations

The receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) has increasingly been demonstrated to be an important modulator of inflammation in cases of pulmonary disease. Published reports involving tobacco smoke exposure have demonstrated increased expression of RAGE, its participation in pro-inflammatory signaling and its role in irreversible pulmonary remodeling. The current research evaluated for the first time the in vivo effects of short-term tobacco smoke exposure in RAGE null and control mice compared to identical animals exposed to room air only. Quantitative real time PCR, immunoblotting, and immunohistochemistry revealed elevated RAGE expression in controls after four weeks of exposure and an anticipated …

Expression Of Osteoarthritis Biomarkers In Temporomandibular Joints Of Mice With And Without Receptor For Advanced Glycation End Products (Rage), Elizabeth Murayama Chavez Matias

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will be organized into three chapters discussing the mechanism underlying the onset and progression of osteoarthritis (OA) in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Understanding the mechanism of OA development in the TMJ helps in understanding how OA progresses and how to treat this disease. The goal of this investigation is to examine the process of cartilage degeneration and OA biomarker expression in the TMJ to understand their role in TMJ OA onset and development.Chapter one covers mechanisms that are altered in TMJ OA during disease progression. Using animal models with different stressors such as mechanical disturbances, direct injury, and …

Rapid Adaptation Of Dopamine D2 Receptor Responses In The Brain And Blood Following Acute Ethanol, Ryan J. Folsom

Theses and Dissertations

Dopamine (DA) D2 receptor expression parallels DA levels in the brain and these autoreceptors have been shown to be modulated by long-term ethanol exposure. We have previously demonstrated that ventral tegmental area (VTA) GABA neurons also express D2 autoreceptors (D2R), and that DA and D2R agonists markedly enhance the excitability of VTA GABA neurons, opposite to their well-known auto-receptor inhibition of DA neurons. Most importantly, D2R antagonists block ethanol inhibition of VTA GABA neurons and D2R expression in VTA GABA neurons down-regulates with chronic ethanol, as others have shown for whole VTA D2R expression. The aim of this study was …

Examination Of Anabolic Signaling And Muscle Growth With Caffeine Treatment In Overloaded Hindlimb Muscle And Electrically Stimulated Muscle Lacking Liver Kinase B1, Timothy Michael Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Skeletal muscle has the ability to increase in size (hypertrophy) after resistance is placed upon it. This hypertrophy is marked by significant upregulation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and its downstream targets. The upstream kinases, protein kinase B (also known as Akt) and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), are two of the many regulators of the mTOR pathway. Recent studies suggest that the widely consumed neuroactive compound caffeine could potentially inhibit mTOR by acting through Akt and/or AMPK. The purpose of this thesis was to: 1) determine if caffeine can inhibit the mTOR pathway and ultimately attenuate skeletal muscle …

Characterization Of Secondhand Smoke (Shs) And Materno-Fetal Interactions In Receptors For Advanced Glycation End-Products (Rage)-Targeted Mice, Duane Ray Winden

Theses and Dissertations

Receptors for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) are pattern recognition receptors of the immunoglobulin superfamily highly expressed in the lung. Likely functions include the modulation of pulmonary inflammation during disease. However, the contributions of RAGE in the developing lung in cases where secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure occurs are unknown. In order to test the hypothesis that RAGE misexpression adversely affects lung morphogenesis, we exposed gestating dams to a controlled dose of SHS during the last four critical days of in utero lung morphogenesis. We discovered that both maternal and fetal lungs respond to SHS by up-regulating RAGE. Exposed fetuses were markedly …

Synaptic Plasticity In Gabaergic Inhibition Of Vta Neurons, Jennifer Kei Mabey

Theses and Dissertations

Past research has demonstrated that the motivational effects of opiates causes a change in ventral tegmental area (VTA) γ-amino butyric acid (GABA) subtype A receptor [GABA(A)R] complexes in opiate-dependent animals, which switch from a GABA-induced hyperpolarization of VTA GABA neurons to a GABA-induced depolarization. Previously shown in naïve animals, superfusion of ethanol (IC50 = 30 mM) and the GABA(A)R agonist muscimol (IC50 = 100 nM) decreased VTA GABA neuron firing rate in a dose-dependent manner. The aim of this study was to evaluate VTA GABA neuron excitability, GABA synaptic transmission to VTA GABA neurons, and a potential switch in GABA(A)R …