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Articles 1 - 30 of 33

Full-Text Articles in Behavioral Neurobiology

Using A Toxic Aging Coin To Assess Hexavalent Chromium-Induced Neurotoxicity., Samuel Thomas Vielee Dec 2023

Using A Toxic Aging Coin To Assess Hexavalent Chromium-Induced Neurotoxicity., Samuel Thomas Vielee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We are facing an aging crisis, with 20% of the U.S. population projected to be geriatric (65+) by 2030 and live another 40+ years. Age-related diseases accompany a growing geriatric population, emphasizing the need to understand their etiology. Environmental pollutants compound this crisis by: 1) geriatrics are more susceptible, exacerbating age-related diseases and comorbidities, and 2) they accelerate biological aging, inducing age-related diseases at younger ages. We address this crisis using a ‘toxic aging coin’ approach; heads examines how age impacts toxicity, tails examines how chemicals accelerate aging. This thesis applies the heads side for Cr(VI)-induced neurotoxicity across ages. We …

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Sex Differences In Stress Reactivity, Brain Morphology, And Oxytocin In The Hypothalamus Of The Gray Short-Tailed Opossum (Monodelphis Domestica), Esperanza I. Zacarias, Daniela Rodriguez, Alexandra Chalons, Sasawan Heingraj, Nicole Altamirano, Joseph Rafac, John L. Vandeberg, Mario Gil Oct 2023

Sex Differences In Stress Reactivity, Brain Morphology, And Oxytocin In The Hypothalamus Of The Gray Short-Tailed Opossum (Monodelphis Domestica), Esperanza I. Zacarias, Daniela Rodriguez, Alexandra Chalons, Sasawan Heingraj, Nicole Altamirano, Joseph Rafac, John L. Vandeberg, Mario Gil

Research Colloquium

Understanding the effects of stress on behavior and cognition is important due to its impact on mental health and wellbeing (Schneiderman et al. 2005). Translational animal research can contribute to the development of new treatments that can improve therapeutic outcomes and our understanding of the neurobiology of stress. In the present study, we complement behavioral stress reactivity with immunohistochemical localization of oxytocin in the hypothalamus, a neuropeptide that regulates stress (Neumann & Slattery, 2016). Oxytocin has potential therapeutic use for mental health disorders (Neumann & Slattery, 2016), and the effects of oxytocin seem to be sexually dimorphic (Love, 2018). Using …

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Neural Mechanisms Of Resiliency And Susceptibility After Repeated Social Defeat, Christy R. Wayne Jul 2023

Neural Mechanisms Of Resiliency And Susceptibility After Repeated Social Defeat, Christy R. Wayne

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Social defeat is a powerful experience leading to drastic changes in physiology and behavior, many of which are negative. For example, repeated social defeat in vertebrates results in reduced reproductive success, sickness, and behavioral abnormalities that threaten individual survival and species persistence. However, little is known about what neural mechanisms are involved in determining whether an individual is resilient or susceptible to repeated social defeat stress. I used a resident-intruder experiment in the African cichlid fish, Astatotilapia burtoni, to create and investigate the behavior and neural correlates of these two opposing groups. Resilient fish used both searching and freezing behaviors …

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The Impacts Of Immune Challenges On Fish Behavior And Physiology, Teisha King Jan 2023

The Impacts Of Immune Challenges On Fish Behavior And Physiology, Teisha King

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

For species living in dominance hierarchies, social rank dictates access to resources and often contributes to reproductive success. To ensure survival, individuals constantly evaluate trade- offs between crucial biological systems, like the reproductive and immune systems, depending on their social rank and physiological state. Little is known about how social species balance interactions between immune system function, fluctuations in social status and reproductive fitness, and the performance of behaviors necessary for maintaining social status when sick, particularly in fishes, the largest and most diverse group of vertebrates. My dissertation research uses a whole animal approach to examine how physiological profiles …

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Neural Stem Cells: Age-Dependent Outcomes During Viral Infections In The Central Nervous System, Manisha N. Chandwani Aug 2022

Neural Stem Cells: Age-Dependent Outcomes During Viral Infections In The Central Nervous System, Manisha N. Chandwani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Viral infections in the central nervous system (CNS) are associated with neurodevelopmental and neurobehavioral deficits. The outcomes of viral infections can be driven by damage and death of neurons. Neural stem cells (NSCs) play key roles in neurodevelopment, repair, and physiological brain function. During a viral infection, NSC activity can disturbed by direct infection of NSCs by the virus or by anti-viral immune response. Here, we aimed to assess whether the anti-viral immune response can impact NSC activity during an immunocompetent response in the adult brain. We utilized a transgenic mouse model of Measles virus infection where only the CNS …

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Buprenorphine Effects On Anxiety-Like Behavior In B6 Mice, Megan K. Thibert Apr 2022

Buprenorphine Effects On Anxiety-Like Behavior In B6 Mice, Megan K. Thibert

Select or Award-Winning Individual Scholarship

Buprenorphine, a semi-synthetic opioid prescribed for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD), has been suggested as a potential pharmacological treatment for anxiety. Some preclinical and clinical studies provide support for the anxiolytic effects of buprenorphine, but research in this area is scarce, and findings to date have been mixed. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that buprenorphine alters anxiety-like behavior in C57BL/IJ (B6) mice measured using the elevated zero maze (EZM). Adult, male mice (n=10) were given subcutaneous injections of saline (control) and three doses of buprenorphine (0.3, 1, and 10 mg/kg). One hour following injection, …

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Targeting Ampa Receptor Modulation During Early Life Adversity: A Mediator For Threat Associated Memories, Roseanna M. Zanca Jun 2021

Targeting Ampa Receptor Modulation During Early Life Adversity: A Mediator For Threat Associated Memories, Roseanna M. Zanca

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Early life adversity (ELA) is the exposure to a single or to multiple traumatic events before the age of 18 that go beyond the child’s coping. These adverse events are often exacerbated during adolescence particularly when cognitive performance is compromised. Adolescents who experienced ELA may show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while not vividly recalling the early life trauma. These individuals show atypical connectivity between prefrontal-amygdala and hippocampus, all of which is associated with an increased risk of experiencing a traumatic event again later in life. While clinical research has increasingly stressed the importance in addressing the long-lasting consequences …

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Functional Regionalization In The Fly Eye As An Adaptation To Habitat Structure, Carlos A. Ruiz Mar 2021

Functional Regionalization In The Fly Eye As An Adaptation To Habitat Structure, Carlos A. Ruiz

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With over 150,000 described species, flies constitute one of the most species-rich groups of animals on earth, and have managed to colonize almost every corner of it. Part of their success comes from their amazing flying skills, which are strongly tied to their visual capabilities. To navigate fast and accurately through their habitats, they must be able to process the inordinate amounts of visual information necessary to sort obstacles, avoid predators and remain on course. Surprisingly, despite their tiny brains, flies have no problem in processing all that information to generate correcting maneuvers in just about 30 ms. To this …

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Role Of Clic4 And The Synaptic Transcriptome In The Behavioral And Molecular Neurobiology Of Ethanol, Rory M. Weston Jan 2020

Role Of Clic4 And The Synaptic Transcriptome In The Behavioral And Molecular Neurobiology Of Ethanol, Rory M. Weston

Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a prevalent neuropsychiatric disease with profound health, social, and economic consequences. With an estimated 50% heritability, identifying genes that engender risk and contribute to the underlying neurobiological mechanisms represents an important first step in developing effective treatments. Gene expression studies are an important source of candidate genes for studying AUD, providing windows into the molecular machinery engaged by the brain in response to ethanol. Published studies have identified chloride intracellular channel 4 (Clic4) as an ethanol-regulated gene in brain capable of modulating sensitivity to sedation in multiple species. The functions of Clic4 are …

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Whether Invertebrates Are Sentient Matters To Bioethics And Science Policy, Michael L. Woodruff Jan 2020

Whether Invertebrates Are Sentient Matters To Bioethics And Science Policy, Michael L. Woodruff

Animal Sentience

Mikhalevich & Powell provide convincing empirical evidence that at least some invertebrates are sentient and hence should be granted moral status. I agree and argue that functional markers should be the primary indicators of sentience. Neuroanatomical homologies provide only secondary evidence. Consensus regarding the validity of these functional markers will be difficult to achieve. To be effective in practice, functional markers of sentience will have to be tested and accepted species by species to overcome the implicit biases against extending moral status to invertebrates.

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The Effects Of Ambient Temperature And Lighting Intensity On Wheel-Running Behavior In A Diurnal Rodent, The Nile Grass Rat (Arvicanthis Niloticus), Garrett M. Fogo, Alyssa M. Goodwin, Ohanes S. Khacherian, Brandi J. Ledbetter, Andrew J. Gall May 2019

The Effects Of Ambient Temperature And Lighting Intensity On Wheel-Running Behavior In A Diurnal Rodent, The Nile Grass Rat (Arvicanthis Niloticus), Garrett M. Fogo, Alyssa M. Goodwin, Ohanes S. Khacherian, Brandi J. Ledbetter, Andrew J. Gall

Faculty Publications

Environmental conditions, such as the light-dark cycle and temperature, affect the display of circadian rhythmicity and locomotor activity patterns in mammals. Here, we tested the hypothesis that manipulating these environmental conditions would affect wheel-running activity patterns in a diurnal rodent, the Nile grass rat (Arvicanthis niloticus). Grass rats are diurnal in the field, however, a subset switch from a day-active pattern to a night-active pattern of activity after the introduction of a running wheel. The mechanism of this chronotype switch remains largely unknown. In the present study, grass rats were presented with running wheels in 12:12 light-dark conditions. First, subjects …

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Cognition And The Brain Of Brood Parasitic Cowbirds., David F Sherry, Mélanie F Guigueno Mar 2019

Cognition And The Brain Of Brood Parasitic Cowbirds., David F Sherry, Mélanie F Guigueno

Psychology Publications

Cowbirds are brood parasites. Females lay their eggs in the nests of other species, which then incubate the cowbird eggs and raise the young cowbirds. Finding and returning to heterospecific nests presents cowbirds with several cognitive challenges. In some species, such as brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater), females but not males search for and remember the locations of potential host nests. We describe recent research on sex differences in cognition and the hippocampus associated with this sex difference in search for host nests. Female brown-headed cowbirds perform better than males on some, but not all, tests of spatial memory and females …

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Discrimination And Behavioral Responses To Communication Signals Compared Across Apteronotids., Danielle Leigh Dillon-Seeger Jan 2019

Discrimination And Behavioral Responses To Communication Signals Compared Across Apteronotids., Danielle Leigh Dillon-Seeger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Sensory systems are often uniquely tailored to encode behaviorally relevant signals and comparative studies across species can thus reveal how evolutionary changes shape sensory functions. The structure of communication signals varies widely between ghost knifefish species. Recent findings suggest that the nervous system co-adapted to the various signal structures observed across species to support different sensory behaviors. The aim for this thesis was to compare the sensory behavior of 3 species of ghost knifefish to contrast their behavioral performance with the known differences in neurophysiology. We hypothesize that for the different signal types and species, the ability to discriminate small …

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Characterization Of G-Protein Coupled Receptors In Pain, Depression And Anxiety, Neil Lax Dec 2018

Characterization Of G-Protein Coupled Receptors In Pain, Depression And Anxiety, Neil Lax

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chronic pain and major depressive disorder are widespread conditions in the world. Interestingly, these conditions often occur comorbidly, with each individual disease amplifying the symptoms of the other. A significant amount of preclinical research in pain and depression focuses on G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), implying that GPCRs may be useful in treating this comorbidity. Our efforts have sought to characterize several poorly understood GPCRs, including the serotonin receptor subtypes 2C and 7 (5-HT2CR and 5-HT7R) and metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5), along with more well-known GPCRs such as the mu opioid receptor (MOR), and the role that they play in …

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Congenital Zika Virus Infection In Immunocompetent Mice Causes Postnatal Growth Impediment And Neurobehavioral Deficits, Amber M. Paul, Dhiraj Acharya, Biswas Neupane, E. Ashley Thompson, Gabriel Gonzalez-Fernandez, Katherine M. Copeland Aug 2018

Congenital Zika Virus Infection In Immunocompetent Mice Causes Postnatal Growth Impediment And Neurobehavioral Deficits, Amber M. Paul, Dhiraj Acharya, Biswas Neupane, E. Ashley Thompson, Gabriel Gonzalez-Fernandez, Katherine M. Copeland

Publications

A small percentage of babies born to Zika virus (ZIKV)-infected mothers' manifest severe defects at birth, including microcephaly. Among those who appeared healthy at birth, there are increasing reports of postnatal growth or developmental defects. However, the impact of congenital ZIKV infection in postnatal development is poorly understood. Here, we report that a mild congenital ZIKV-infection in pups born to immunocompetent pregnant mice did not display apparent defects at birth, but manifested postnatal growth impediments and neurobehavioral deficits, which include reduced locomotor and cognitive deficits that persisted into adulthood. We found that the brains of these pups were smaller, had …

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The Effect Of Hypoxia On The Nervous System Of Aplysia Californica, Victor Escalona, Lynne Annette Fieber, Joseph Serafy Mar 2018

The Effect Of Hypoxia On The Nervous System Of Aplysia Californica, Victor Escalona, Lynne Annette Fieber, Joseph Serafy

2018 Entries

The intertidal zone of California’s Pacific coast is home to the marine snail known as Aplysia californica, an organism that has found use as a model in experiments focused on understanding the basis of learning and memory. Its simple nervous system consisting of easily identifiable neurons, its life span of a year, and a readily-accessed aquacultured source from the National Resource for Aplysia make it an excellent model for ontogenetic, neural, and behavioral studies. Here, however, the focus was on strategies this species uses to survive in an environment rife with risks of hypoxia and desiccation during the tidal …

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Optogenetic Interrogation Of Primary Visual Cortex And Its Impact On Neural Coding And Behavior, Ariana R. Andrei Aug 2017

Optogenetic Interrogation Of Primary Visual Cortex And Its Impact On Neural Coding And Behavior, Ariana R. Andrei

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Understanding the mechanism by which the brain transforms simple sensory inputs into rich perceptual experiences is one of the great mysteries of systems neuroscience. Undoubtedly this involves the activity of large populations of interconnected neurons, but while the responses of individual neurons to a variety of sensory stimuli have been well-characterized, how populations of such neurons organize their activity to create our sensory perceptions is almost entirely unknown. To investigate this complex circuitry requires the ability to causally manipulate the activity of neural populations and monitor the resultant effects. Here we focus on primary visual cortex (V1), which has been …

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Normal Behavioral Responses To Light And Darkness And The Pupillary Light Reflex Are Dependent Upon The Olivary Pretectal Nucleus In The Diurnal Nile Grass Rat, Andrew J. Gall, Ohanes S. Khacherian, Brandi Ledbetter, Sean P. Deats, Megan Luck, Laura Smale, Lily Yan, Antonio A. Nunez Jul 2017

Normal Behavioral Responses To Light And Darkness And The Pupillary Light Reflex Are Dependent Upon The Olivary Pretectal Nucleus In The Diurnal Nile Grass Rat, Andrew J. Gall, Ohanes S. Khacherian, Brandi Ledbetter, Sean P. Deats, Megan Luck, Laura Smale, Lily Yan, Antonio A. Nunez

Faculty Publications

The olivary pretectal nucleus (OPT) is a midbrain structure that receives reciprocal bilateral retinal projections, is involved in the pupillary light reflex, and connects reciprocally with the intergeniculate leaflet (IGL), a retinorecipient brain region that mediates behavioral responses to light pulses (i.e., masking) in diurnal Nile grass rats. Here, we lesioned the OPT and evaluated behavioral responses in grass rats to various lighting conditions, as well as their anxiety-like responses to light exposure. While control grass rats remained diurnal, grass rats with OPT lesions exhibited a more night-active pattern under 12h:12h light-dark (LD) conditions. However, when placed in constant darkness, …

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A Behavioral Prerequisite For The Genetic Analysis Of Auditory Feature Detection Mechanisms In Female Crickets, Rebecca L. Blisko May 2017

A Behavioral Prerequisite For The Genetic Analysis Of Auditory Feature Detection Mechanisms In Female Crickets, Rebecca L. Blisko

Senior Honors Projects

Sexual dimorphism is exhibited across all cricket species and is a central aspect of the mating processes of these insects. Only male crickets possess wing structures and pattern generators in the central nervous system that allow them to produce a mating call that is unique to their species in order to attract conspecific females. Conspecific females possess an auditory feature detection circuit in the central nervous system that is capable of detecting the species-specific frequency and temporal pattern of sound pulses within a male call. In order for dimorphic differences in mating behavior to result in successful continuation of a …

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Animal Sentience? Neuroscience Has No Answers, Yoram Gutfreund Jan 2017

Animal Sentience? Neuroscience Has No Answers, Yoram Gutfreund

Animal Sentience

Woodruff’s target article provides a detailed review of comparative studies on brain and behavior in teleosts. However, the relevance of the scientific data to the question of consciousness rests solely on the validity of a small set of so-called "requirements for consciousness." I use the target article to demonstrate that the neuroscientific study of animal consciousness in general relies on external, highly questionable and unfalsifiable criteria, and therefore fails to resolve the question of which animal species are sentient. Fish behavior can be remarkably complex, but whether fish are conscious remains a matter of belief.

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Status Signaling And The Characterization Of A Chirp-Like Signal In The Weakly Electric Fish Steatogenys Elegans, Caitlin E. Field Feb 2016

Status Signaling And The Characterization Of A Chirp-Like Signal In The Weakly Electric Fish Steatogenys Elegans, Caitlin E. Field

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sensory systems are critical to both exploratory and communicatory processes, the study of which is critical to our understanding of how animals perceive and respond to their environments. In weakly electric fishes the electrosensory system is utilized for both of these purposes. One type of communication, status signaling, is widespread across taxa and frequently hormonally modulated. This hormonal modulation keeps the signal honest, wherein the status of the sender and the production of the status signal itself are both hormone dependent. We investigated exploratory and communicatory strategies of the electromotor system in pulse-type gymnotiforms, with a focus on status communication …

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Behavioral Outputs Of Fragile-X Autistic Mice Exposed To Open-Field, Randomized, Short-Term Visual Stimuli, Nicholas M. Dicola, Alexander A. Chubykin Aug 2015

Behavioral Outputs Of Fragile-X Autistic Mice Exposed To Open-Field, Randomized, Short-Term Visual Stimuli, Nicholas M. Dicola, Alexander A. Chubykin

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Animal models of different neurological disorders are required for studying the pathophysiology of these diseases, and for potential development of pharmacological and behavioral treatments. The scientific community often uses mouse models for behavior studies due to their powerful genetic tools and low cost. However, subjective measurement techniques are often used when analyzing mice for behavioral traits which often results in discrepancies in results. An automated tracking software would aim to eliminate these discrepancies and subjective analysis. This lab has developed a software program which offered an ability to automatically collect open-field behavioral data with simultaneous on-line analysis. Python, an open …

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Effects Of Acute Nicotine On Larval Zebrafish Exploratory Behavior In A Complex Environment, Brandon Chen Jan 2015

Effects Of Acute Nicotine On Larval Zebrafish Exploratory Behavior In A Complex Environment, Brandon Chen

Senior Projects Spring 2015

The larval zebrafish is emerging as a useful model to assess neurobehavioral toxicity. A variety of behavioral assays have been developed to characterize normal behavior and the acute and chronic effects of a variety of compounds. To date, such behavioral assays have been limited to relatively simple behavioral measures (e.g., swimming activity in a single well). The present experiment describes methodology to assess exploratory behavior in 5 days-post-fertilization (5 dpf) larval zebrafish using a six-chamber, complex well-plate. In addition, the effect of acute nicotine exposure on exploratory activity in this complex environment was examined. Five dpf TU strain larvae were …

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Increased Body Weight In Adulthood Following A Peripubertal Stressor And Proposed Mechanism For Effects Of Increased Adiposity On Estrogen-Dependent Behaviors, Christina F. Gagliardi Nov 2014

Increased Body Weight In Adulthood Following A Peripubertal Stressor And Proposed Mechanism For Effects Of Increased Adiposity On Estrogen-Dependent Behaviors, Christina F. Gagliardi

Masters Theses

Exposure to certain stressors during a sensitive period around puberty can lead to enduring effects on an animal’s response to estradiol. In estradiol-influenced behaviors, such as sexual receptivity, hippocampal-dependent learning and memory, depression-like behavior, and anxiety-like behaviors, exposure to a peripubertal stressor such as shipping stress or an injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) can eliminate or even reverse the normal response to estradiol. In addition to regulating these behaviors, estradiol play a role in the regulation of body weight. While some of the previous studies touched on short-term effects on body weight, no systemic long-term study of the effects of a …

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The Effects Of Construction Activity On The Behavior Of Captive Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca Mulatta), Courtney A. Begnoche Jan 2014

The Effects Of Construction Activity On The Behavior Of Captive Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca Mulatta), Courtney A. Begnoche

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Previous studies have revealed insight into the effects of noises and vibrations on rodents, livestock, and zoo animals, but there is little information about such effects on non-human primates. This study aimed to assess the impact of construction activity on the behavior of animals in a non-human primate (rhesus macaque) facility. Construction activity and modified frequency behavioral data were divided into three phases: baseline (~3 months prior to construction), roof (construction on top of the animal facility), and honors (construction of 7 new buildings adjacent to the facility). We hypothesized that anxiety behaviors (scratch and yawn) would be increased during …

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Behavioral Responses To Methylphenidate: Correlations With Neuronal Activity In The Caudate Nucleus, Catherine M. Claussen May 2013

Behavioral Responses To Methylphenidate: Correlations With Neuronal Activity In The Caudate Nucleus, Catherine M. Claussen

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Methylphenidate is currently a drug of abuse and readily prescribed to both adolescents and adults. Chronic methylphenidate (MPH) exposure results in an increase in DA in the motive circuit, including the caudate nucleus (CN), similar to other drugs of abuse. This study focuses on research aimed to elucidate if there are intrinsic underlying differences in the CN electrophysiological activity of animals exhibiting different chronic responses to the same dose of MPH. Behavioral and caudate nucleus (CN) neuronal activity following acute and chronic doses of MPH was assessed by simultaneously recording the behavioral and neuronal activity. The experimental protocol lasted for …

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Effects Of Neonatal Hypoxic Ischemic Brain Injury On Spatial Working Memory, Amanda L. Smith Dec 2012

Effects Of Neonatal Hypoxic Ischemic Brain Injury On Spatial Working Memory, Amanda L. Smith

Master's Theses

Children born prematurely or at very low birth weight (VLBW) have an increased risk for hypoxic ischemic brain injury (HI). HI refers to a lack of adequate blood and oxygen flow in the brain. HI can also occur in the term infant due to birth complications such as prolonged labor, placental dysfunction, or cord prolapse. In both populations (though exact patterns of neuropathology vary) brain damage is likely to occur in the form of decreased hippocampal and cortical volume, and enlargement of the ventricles (Kesler et al., 2004, Nagy et al., 2009). Resulting neuropathology can in turn lead to cognitive …

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Autonomic And Behavioral Reactivity To An Acute Laboratory Stressor, Jeremy C. Peres Dec 2012

Autonomic And Behavioral Reactivity To An Acute Laboratory Stressor, Jeremy C. Peres

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Stress has been widely shown to directly influence people’s emotional and behavioral processing as well as their underlying biological systems. This project examined physiological and behavioral responses as indicators of stress and coping in the context of a psychosocial stressor in a controlled laboratory setting. We examined the association between indicators of behavioral coping and underlying physiological reactivity within participants while experiencing stress. Participants included 68 emerging adults. Physiological measures include autonomic biomarkers (e.g., heart-rate, skin conductance) at rest and during the stressor while behavioral indicators that were coded include acute verbal and non-verbal actions exhibited by participants during the …

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Septohippocampal Gabaergic Neurons Mediate The Altered Behaviors Induced By N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Antagonists., Jingyi Ma, Siew Kian Tai, L Stan Leung Dec 2012

Septohippocampal Gabaergic Neurons Mediate The Altered Behaviors Induced By N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Antagonists., Jingyi Ma, Siew Kian Tai, L Stan Leung

Physiology and Pharmacology Publications

We hypothesize that selective lesion of the septohippocampal GABAergic neurons suppresses the altered behaviors induced by an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, ketamine or MK-801. In addition, we hypothesize that septohippocampal GABAergic neurons generate an atropine-resistant theta rhythm that coexists with an atropine-sensitive theta rhythm in the hippocampus. Infusion of orexin-saporin (ore-SAP) into the medial septal area decreased parvalbumin-immunoreactive (GABAergic) neurons by ~80%, without significantly affecting choline-acetyltransferase-immunoreactive (cholinergic) neurons. The theta rhythm during walking, or the immobility-associated theta induced by pilocarpine, was not different between ore-SAP and sham-lesion rats. Walking theta was, however, more disrupted by atropine sulfate in ore-SAP than …

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Virtual And Live Social Facilitation While Exergaming: Competitiveness Moderates, Amanda L. Snyder Jun 2011

Virtual And Live Social Facilitation While Exergaming: Competitiveness Moderates, Amanda L. Snyder

Honors Theses

This study evaluated the effects of virtual and live social facilitation on exercise behavior using a cybercycle, a virtual reality-enhanced stationary bike, with 3D scenery and interactive races. Research has shown that social presence can enhance performance (Zajonc, 1965). Research with the cybercycle found that more competitive participants increased exercise intensity with the introduction of a virtual competitor (Snyder et al., 2010). The current study extended the prior experimental design by comparing virtual with live social presence. After training to ride the cybercycle, female college students rode in the presence of a virtual rider and live rider (randomly ordered); a …

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