Animal Experimentation and Research Commons^™

Effects Of Kappa Opioid Receptor Manipulation On Methamphetamine-Induced Behavioral Sensitization In Adolescent Male And Female Rats, Hiroyoshi Matsui Mr, Sarah Seeley, Manoranjan S. D'Souza

ONU Student Research Colloquium

Methamphetamine abuse amongst adolescents has been on the rise in the United States. In this study, we assessed the effects of manipulation of KORs on methamphetamine-induced behavioral sensitization in adolescent male and female rats. Methamphetamine-induced behavioral sensitization is an animal model to study methamphetamine addiction. Behavioral sensitization usually occurs in animals who have been treated with methamphetamine followed by a period of withdrawal. It is hypothesized that brain circuits are altered during the period of withdrawal after methamphetamine exposure resulting in sensitized (increased) responses to methamphetamine at the end of the withdrawal period. The experiment was conducted over 28 days. …

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 …

Effects Of Sex And Estrous Cycle On Intravenous Oxycodone Self-Administration And The Reinstatement Of Oxycodone-Seeking Behavior In Rats, Nicole M. Hinds, Ireneusz D. Wojtas, Corinne A. Gallagher, Claire M. Corbett, Daniel F. Manvich

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

The increasing misuse of both prescription and illicit opioids has culminated in a national healthcare crisis in the United States. Oxycodone is among the most widely prescribed and misused opioid pain relievers and has been associated with a high risk for transition to compulsive opioid use. Here, we sought to examine potential sex differences and estrous cycle-dependent effects on the reinforcing efficacy of oxycodone, as well as on stress-induced or cue-induced oxycodone-seeking behavior, using intravenous (IV) oxycodone self-administration and reinstatement procedures. In experiment 1, adult male and female Long-Evans rats were trained to self-administer 0.03 mg/kg/inf oxycodone according to a …

The Effects Of Prenatal Cannabis Exposure On The Basolateral Amygdala, Karen Kw Wong

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Clinical and preclinical studies indicate prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) pathologically affects fetal brain development and may increase vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and mood/anxiety disorders. In review research from our lab suggests that fetal exposure to Δ9-THC sex-selectively impairs mesocorticolimbic (MCL) circuit function. However, there is a distinct lack of focus on PCE models on the BLA. The BLA plays a central role within the MCL where it directly interacts with the VTA, PFC and HIPP. Importantly, our model exhibits significant VTA hyperdopaminergic activity, and sex-specific alterations to PFC/HIPP glutamate firing, alongside region- and sex-specific changes in dopamine (DA), …

Impacts On Fast-Start Performance: How Do Group Size And Habitat Degradation Alter The Escape Behavior Of A Schooling Coral Reef Fish?, Monica D. Bacchus

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Escaping predation is essential for species survival, but prey must effectively match their response to the perceived threat imposed by a predator. Fish evaluate their surroundings using several sensory stimuli, including olfactory, visual, auditory, and mechanical cues. A range of taxa use the fast-start response to evade predators, including fishes, sharks, and larval amphibians. While the fast-start response (rapid bursts of swimming) is extensively studied in solitary fishes, the factors that mediate the collective escape response in schools of fish have historically been investigated far less. To address this knowledge gap, the collective escape behavior and individual escape performance of …

Impact Of Brain State On Visual And Prefrontal Population Coding In Behaving Animals, Russell Milton

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Patterns of neural activity in the brain constantly shift between different processing states. Earlier studies have established that the ongoing, spontaneous activity has major repercussions regarding how the brain processes incoming sensory stimuli. However, the interaction between behavioral activity and brain states throughout the cortical hierarchy of primates has not been understood. In particular, technical considerations have greatly limited the range of physical activities in which primate neuronal activity can be recorded. We have implemented two separate strategies to overcome these limitations. First, we have advanced wireless electrophysiological methodologies that enable recording high-yield neuronal data from animals as they freely …

The Effects Of D2 Receptor Modulation On Locomotor Development In Danio Rerio, Isaiah Thomas Mcroberts

Senior Projects Spring 2022

This study utilized a novel design to investigate the sensitivity of D2 dopamine receptors to modulating compounds through multiple exposures over early development of zebrafish larvae. Zebrafish were dosed for 30 minutes from 5-8 days post fertilization (dpf) with 16µ/mol of either a D2 antagonist, haloperidol, or a D2 agonist, quinpirole hydrochloride. Two other groups were then dosed with these compounds from 9-12dpf. The effects of D2 receptor modulation were measured by analyzing motor activity on measures of movement distance, frequency, and velocity. Results indicated that larvae dosed with haloperidol on 5dpf had increased activity after the first dosage, but …

Psychedelics Can Save: The Scientific And Social Case For Rescheduling Psychedelic Compounds, Galen M. Fader

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Development And Evaluation Of Novel Da Transport Inhibitors And Their Effects On Effort-Related Motivation: A Review, Mukund Desibhatla

Honors Scholar Theses

Depression is a debilitating disorder that can cause motivational deficits such as psychomotor retardation, anergia, apathy, and fatigue. Recent research indicates that these motivational deficits, and potential pathways of therapeutic intervention, can be studied in animal models involving rats and mice. Treatments with the VMAT-2 inhibitor tetrabenazine (TBZ) and cytokine interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) can create a low-effort bias and impair effort-related motivation (Nunes et al. 2013, 2014). A number of high-affinity DA transport inhibitors such as d-amphetamine, methylphenidate, and cocaine can restore extracellular DA, albeit with the cost of undesirable effects such as high abuse liability. These observations have led researchers …

Wild Mice With Different Social Network Sizes Vary In Brain Gene Expression, Patricia C. Lopes, Barbara König

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Appropriate social interactions influence animal fitness by impacting several processes, such as mating, territory defense, and offspring care. Many studies shedding light on the neurobiological underpinnings of social behavior have focused on nonapeptides (vasopressin, oxytocin, and homologues) and on sexual or parent-offspring interactions. Furthermore, animals have been studied under artificial laboratory conditions, where the consequences of behavioral responses may not be as critical as when expressed under natural environments, therefore obscuring certain physiological responses. We used automated recording of social interactions of wild house mice outside of the breeding season to detect individuals at both tails of a distribution …

Translating Touches: New Approaches For Modeling And Rescuing Executive Function Deficits After Prenatal Alcohol Exposure, Johnny A. Kenton

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Background: With a recent meta-analysis indicating that 9.8% of women worldwide consume alcohol during pregnancy, understanding the effects of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is critical for both identifying and treating those afflicted. Traditional preclinical research investigating the behavioral effects of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as FASD, has utilized tasks designed for specific animal models. For this reason, preclinical research into FASD requires a shift into clinically relevant behavioral testing. One such method involves touch-sensitive screens integrated into an operant box to emulate clinical computer-based tasks, such as the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery.

Methods: Here, we utilized a mouse model …

Effect Of Ambient Temperature On Recovery Of Surgically Instrumented Sprague-Dawley Rats, Gianna Mangone

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Based on current guidelines for housing rodents after surgical instrumentation, rodents may be housed at temperatures that hinder surgical recovery and cause thermal stress– room temperature (21°C) being one of them. Rodents are often housed at room temperature since this temperature is easy for humans to be caring for them. However, if recovering rodents are thermally stressed, experimental results will be confounded. To address this issue, Sprague-Dawley rats were surgically instrumented with radiotelemtry thermoprobes (Data Sciences, #TA-10F40) to monitor their core temperatures, then housed at one of five temperatures to assess the effect ambient temperature had on multiple aspects of …

Sedative And Neurotoxic Properties Of Brexanolone Compared To Midazolam In The Developing Rodent Brain, Jacob Huffman

Dissertations

The developing brain is susceptible to extensive neurotoxicity following exposure to sedative/anesthetic drugs (SADs). Every year hundreds of thousands of children around the world are exposed to SADs with no viable non-neurotoxic agents approved for clinical use. Allopregnanolone (AlloP) has well-established sedative effects in adults and neonates. AlloP and many SADs produce sedation/anesthesia through allosteric modulation of GABA_A receptors, which is one of two principal mechanisms behind SAD-induced neurotoxicity. Evidence suggests AlloP has the unique capacity to regulate key apoptotic factors in adults and is widely involved with critical stages of neurodevelopment, indicating this neurosteroid might serve as a …

Activation Of The Sonic Hedgehog Effector Smoothened Counteracts L-Dopa Induced Dyskinesia By Restoring Cholinergic Interneuron Function, Lauren Malave

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Many types of neurons act as multimodal signaling centers. Yet, we have only limited insight into the regulation and functional consequences of neuronal co-transmission. For example, dopamine (DA) neurons, whose degeneration causes motor deficits characteristic of Parkinson’s Diseases (PD), communicate with all their targets by DA but only a selective subset of their targets using GABA, Glutamate, and the secreted cell signaling protein Sonic Hedgehog (Shh). It is unknown whether Levo-dopamine (L-Dopa) induced dyskinesia (LIDs), a severely debilitating side effect of DA supplementation in PD, might appear because DA neuron targets are exposed to high DA- but low Shh- signaling …

Jet Lag: What’S Light Got To Do With It?, Melissa Richardson

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

Jet lag results in memory loss and sleepiness. Current treatments for jet lag focus on symptoms and not the cause of jet lag; disrupted light environment. This study in mice, uncovered mechanisms of how light regulates jet lag recovery and memory. This work informs our future studies in humans.

Molecular Targets Of Psychedelics And Their Role In Behavioral Models Of Hallucinogenic Action, Hiba Z. Vohra

Theses and Dissertations

Psychedelics are a subset of hallucinogenic drugs that exert their characteristic effects through agonist activity at the serotonin receptor 2A (5-HT_2A). In this study, I aimed to characterize the modulatory role of the metabotropic glutamate subtype 2 receptor (mGluR2) in the 5-HT_2A-specific rodent model of hallucinogenic action, head-twitch response (HTR). Secondly, I aimed to explore if 5-HT_2A agonist-induced deficits in prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response, an additional model of hallucinogenic action, could be produced in mice. Though 5-HT_2A agonist-induced PPI deficits, which represent interruptions in normal sensorimotor gating, have been described in …

Cannabinoid Transmission In The Basolateral Amygdala Modulates Prefrontal Cortex And Ventral Hippocampal Activity, Brian J. Pereira

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The cannabinoid system is important for maintaining neuron-to-neuron communication within the mammalian brain. One of the most commonly used substances to alter the cannabinoid system is cannabis. Individuals who are exposed to cannabis report having dissociable effects; both positive and negative. High amounts of THC have been commonly associated with the negative effects of cannabis, whereas CBD can be used to counter these. Pre-clinical evidence suggests that the combination of the two compounds can produce a therapeutic benefit for individuals who are susceptible to the effects of THC. The present study investigates whether the combination of THC+CBD can prevent electrophysiological …

Possible Breakdown Of Dopamine Receptor Synergism In A Mouse Model Of Huntington's Disease, Samantha F. Kennedy

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The model of basal ganglia function proposed by Albin, Young and Penney (1989) describes two anatomically independent motor pathways, the direct and indirect. However, under normal conditions striatal dopamine (DA) is required for the expression of motor behavior, and DAergic control of the two pathways (via D1 and D2 receptors, respectively) is dependent on co-activation. We tested for a possible breakdown of D1/D2 synergism using transgenic R6/1 mice bearing the human huntingtin allele (Htt). Motor stereotypy, observed prior to the onset of HD-related symptoms, was rated on a 5-point scale following activation of: A) D1 receptors alone, B) D2 receptors …

Amelioration Of Prenatal Alcohol Effects By Environmental Enrichment In A Mouse Model Of Fasd, Aniruddho Chokroborty-Hoque

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy results in a spectrum of behavioural and cognitive deficits collectively known as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Currently, little is know about if and how the external environment may modulate these deficits. I have used C57BL/6 mice to study this interaction between prenatal alcohol exposure and the postnatal environment. Alcohol exposure during synaptogenesis produces high levels of anxiety-like traits and decreased memory performance. Alcohol-exposed mice (and matched unexposed controls) were put in 'environmentally-enriched' conditions of voluntary exercise, physical activities and cognitive stimulation to ascertain the effects of a positive postnatal environment. The results show that …

Effects Of Chromium On Mouse Splenic T Lymphocytes And Effects Of Ethanol Exposure During Early Neurodevelopment On Behaviors In Mice, Lu Dai

Theses and Dissertations--Toxicology and Cancer Biology

The dissertation consists of three major projects with the focus on the immunotoxicity of chromium and the behavior disorders caused by early ETOH exposure respectively.

Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] is widely used in various industrial processes and has been recognized as a carcinogen. As the first line of host defense system, the immune system can be a primary target of Cr(VI). T cell population represents a major arm of the immune system that plays a critical role in host anti-tumor immunity. Dysfunction of T cells compromises host anti-tumor immunity resulting in oncogenesis. Using mouse splenic T cells as an in vitro …