Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Microtubule-Associated Protein Tau In Neuronal Excitability And Epileptogenesis, Ryan A. Cloyd

Theses and Dissertations--Physiology

Tauopathies, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), are devastating diseases with an immense burden on society which is predicted to increase in coming decades. In addition to progressive loss of memory and cognitive function, patients with tauopathies have a 6-10 fold increase in lifetime risk for seizures, and many are diagnosed with epilepsy. The presence of epileptiform activity on electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings from patients with AD predicts faster cognitive decline compared to patients without abnormal EEG readings. Electrophysiological measurements in murine models of AD have identified neuronal hyperexcitability. Furthermore, reducing tau phosphorylation or expression confers seizure resistance in animal epilepsy models. Although …

Novel Mammalian Models For Understanding And Treating Spinal Cord Injury, Michael B. Orr

Theses and Dissertations--Physiology

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is devastating and often leaves the injured individual with persistent dysfunction. The injury persists because humans have poor wound repair and there are no pharmacologic treatments to induce wound repair after SCI. The continued efforts to discover therapeutic targets and develop treatments heavily relies on animal models. The purpose of this project is to develop and study novel mammalian models of SCI to provide insights for the development and effective implementation of SCI therapies.

Lab mice (Mus musculus) are a powerful tool for recapitulating the progression and persistent damage evident in human SCI, but …

Metabolic And Electrophysiological Effects Of Fibroblast Growth Factor 19 In The Dorsal Vagal Complex, Jordan Wean

Theses and Dissertations--Physiology

The dorsal vagal complex (DVC) is an important homeostatic regulatory center located in the hindbrain that alters vagal parasympathetic activity in response to central, viscerosensory, and humoral cues. Within the DVC, second-order sensory neurons in the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) integrate ascending vagal sensory input with descending regulatory inputs from higher brain areas and respond to circulating hormones and glucose. In turn, the NTS projects to the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV) which is comprised of cholinergic motor neurons and regulates gastric motility, hepatic glucose production, and pancreatic hormone release functions, among others.

Fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19) …