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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
An Analysis Of Taste Neuron Morphological Variability: Influences Of Neuron Type And Plasticity., Lisa Christina Ohman
An Analysis Of Taste Neuron Morphological Variability: Influences Of Neuron Type And Plasticity., Lisa Christina Ohman
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Taste neurons are functionally and molecularly diverse, but their morphological diversity was, until recently, completely unexplored. Taste neurons were considered relay cells, communicating information from taste-transducing cells to the brain without variation in morphology. Instead, individual taste neurons are tremendously morphologically variable. To determine how differences in branching relate to the number and types of taste-transducing cells providing neuronal input, I combined sparse cell genetic labeling with a whole-mount immunohistochemistry and analysis workflow. I found that the maximum number of taste-transducing cells capable of providing convergent input onto individual gustatory neurons varied with a range of 1-22 taste-transducing cells. Consistently, …
Effects Of Chemosensory Experience And Context On Consummatory Behaviors., Saphira M. Chiu
Effects Of Chemosensory Experience And Context On Consummatory Behaviors., Saphira M. Chiu
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Eating food generates associations between odors and tastes (i.e., flavor) that guide future choices. Experience with an odor-taste mixture links an odor with a taste’s quality and hedonic value, resulting in a preference for an odor paired with a palatable taste over an odor paired with an unpalatable taste. However, experience with a neutral stimulus (i.e., latent inhibition) or environment (i.e., context) can influence the formation of conditioned associations. Here, I used a two-bottle brief-access task to determine whether rats display an innate preference between unpaired odors (isoamyl acetate and benzaldehyde), how preexposure to the unpaired odors impacts mixture-dependent consummatory …
Oligodendrocyte Responses After Spinal Cord Injury., George Zach Wei
Oligodendrocyte Responses After Spinal Cord Injury., George Zach Wei
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Recent studies demonstrate that neuroprotection strategies targeting the proteostasis network and components of its effector signaling pathways improve cell survival and motor recovery outcomes in several models of neuronal injury and degeneration. However, the individual contributions of these signaling pathways to the pathogenesis of spinal cord injury (SCI), white matter damage, and motor recovery have not yet been determined. Here, I explored the role of the HIF prolyl hydroxylase domain proteins (PHD/EGLN), effectors that can modulate stress responses activated by the proteostasis network, on motor function recovery after SCI. Furthermore, I identified previously unknown candidate mechanisms in an unbiased manner …
Maternal Hpa Axis Function During Parenting Is Associated With Reduced Brain Activation To Infant Cry And More Intrusive Parenting Behavior, Andrew Erhart
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Previous research indicated that maternal cortisol function and maternal brain response to infant stimuli are separately related to differences in parenting behavior. Evidence from animal models have demonstrated that chronically high cortisol concentration alters brain structure and function, suggesting that studying these two mechanisms together may further improve understanding of parental behavior in human mothers. First time mothers of infants aged 1-7 months old (M age = 3 months) were recruited to participate. Mother’s cortisol concentration was measured during a naturalistic interaction with their infant and their behavior was coded for maternal sensitivity and nonintrusiveness. In a separate session using …
The Role Of Acetylcholine In Attention And Lapses In Attention In Rats Using The Mode And Deviation From Mode Of Reaction Time Latency, Scott Lee Mitchell
The Role Of Acetylcholine In Attention And Lapses In Attention In Rats Using The Mode And Deviation From Mode Of Reaction Time Latency, Scott Lee Mitchell
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is currently the neurodevelopmental disorder most commonly diagnosed in children in the United States, and one of the defining characteristics of ADHD is inattention. Inattention is marked by increased lapses in attention, and when assessed clinically, it has been highly correlated with reaction-time variability (RTV). Evidence from the human/clinical literature has shown an inherently higher RTV to be the primary quantitative indicator of an ADHD diagnosis. Reaction-time distributions are characterized by an asymmetrical rightward skew, and because of the prevalence of this presentation, it has been theorized that the distribution peak and skew represent separate phenomena, …