Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

Maternal Nutrient Restriction In Pregnant Guinea Pigs And The Impact On Fetal Growth And Brain Development, Andrew Ghaly

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Maternal nutrient restriction (MNR) in guinea pigs results in placental structural abnormalities that reduce nutrient transport contributing to fetal growth restriction (FGR). However, whether brain weights are similarly reduced, or preserved by “brain sparing” mechanisms, and whether energy levels are depleted leading to membrane failure and overt injury remains unknown. Guinea pig sows were fed ad libitum (Controls) or 70% of the control diet pre-pregnant switching to 90% at mid-pregnancy (MNR). Animals were necropsied near term for fetal growth measures and fetal brains were assessed for markers of necrotic cell injury, apoptotic cell injury, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and altered development …

The Healthy Brain Network Serial Scanning Initiative: A Resource For Evaluating Inter-Individual Differences And Their Reliabilities Across Scan Conditions And Sessions, David O'Connor, Natan Vega Potler, Meagan Kovacs, Ting Xu, Lei Ai, John Pellman, Tamara Vanderwal, Lucas C. Parra, Samantha Cohen, Satrajit Ghosh, Jasmine Escalera, Natalie Grant-Villegas, Yael Osman, Anastasia Bui, R. Cameron Craddock, Michael P. Milham

Publications and Research

Background: Although typically measured during the resting state, a growing literature is illustrating the ability to map intrinsic connectivity with functional MRI during task and naturalistic viewing conditions. These paradigms are drawing excitement due to their greater tolerability in clinical and developing populations and because they enable a wider range of analyses (e.g., inter-subject correlations). To be clinically useful, the test-retest reliability of connectivity measured during these paradigms needs to be established. This resource provides data for evaluating test-retest reliability for full-brain connectivity patterns detected during each of four scan conditions that differ with respect to level of engagement (rest, …

Ck2—An Emerging Target For Neurological And Psychiatric Disorders, Julia Castello, Andre Ragnauth, Eitan Friedman, Heike Rebholz

Publications and Research

Protein kinase CK2 has received a surge of attention in recent years due to the evidence of its overexpression in a variety of solid tumors and multiple myelomas as well as its participation in cell survival pathways. CK2 is also upregulated in the most prevalent and aggressive cancer of brain tissue, glioblastoma multiforme, and in preclinical models, pharmacological inhibition of the kinase has proven successful in reducing tumor size and animal mortality. CK2 is highly expressed in the mammalian brain and has many bona fide substrates that are crucial in neuronal or glial homeostasis and signaling processes across synapses. Full …

Collective Behaviour In Video Viewing: A Thermodynamic Analysis Of Gaze Position, Kate Burleson-Lesser, Flaviano Morone, Paul Deguzman, Lucas C. Parra, Hernan Makse

Publications and Research

Videos and commercials produced for large audiences can elicit mixed opinions. We wondered whether this diversity is also reflected in the way individuals watch the videos. To answer this question, we presented 65 commercials with high production value to 25 individuals while recording their eye movements, and asked them to provide preference ratings for each video. We find that gaze positions for the most popular videos are highly correlated. To explain the correlations of eye movements, we model them as ªinteractionsº between individuals. A thermodynamic analysis of these interactions shows that they approach a ªcritical º point such that any …

Neuropathological And Genetic Correlates Of Survival And Dementia Onset In Synucleinopathies: A Retrospective Analysis, David J. Irwin, Murray Grossman, Daniel Weintraub, Howard I. Hurtig, John E. Duda, Sharon X. Xie, Edward B. Lee, Vivianna M. Van Deerlin, Oscar L. Lopez, Julia K. Kofler, Peter T. Nelson, Gregory A. Jicha, Randy Woltjer, Joseph F. Quinn, Jeffery Kaye, James B. Leverenz, Debby Tsuang, Katelan Longfellow, Dora Yearout, Walter Kukull, C. Dirk Keene, Thomas J. Montine, Cyrus P. Zabetian, John Q. Trojanowski

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Background

Great heterogeneity exists in survival and the interval between onset of motor symptoms and dementia symptoms across synucleinopathies. We aimed to identify genetic and pathological markers that have the strongest association with these features of clinical heterogeneity in synucleinopathies.

Methods

In this retrospective study, we examined symptom onset, and genetic and neuropathological data from a cohort of patients with Lewy body disorders with autopsy-confirmed α synucleinopathy (as of Oct 1, 2015) who were previously included in other studies from five academic institutions in five cities in the USA. We used histopathology techniques and markers to assess the burden of …

Choice-Induced Preference: A Challenge For Contrast, Benjamin R. Eisenreich, Benjamin Y. Hayden

Animal Sentience

In his target article, Zentall asks: “to experience cognitive dissonance is it necessary for one to have conflicting beliefs or even beliefs at all?” He then argues that a simple behavioral process, the Within Trial Contrast Effect, may be sufficient to explain observed cognitive dissonance effects in nonhuman animals and possibly humans as well. We agree with Zentall that this effect is sufficient to explain many reported cognitive dissonance effects in nonhuman animals, but question its sufficiency for primate behavior (both monkeys and humans).

Chicken Of The Sea, Jonathan Balcombe

Animal Sentience

Marino summarizes research showing that chickens perform cognitively and emotionally at a higher level than previously assumed. Here, I describe capacities of teleost fishes that parallel those of chickens, including the ability to recognize human faces, perspective-taking, and referential communication. Research on chickens and on fishes reveals an emerging trend in cognitive ethology: abilities once thought limited to a scant few highly intelligent non-humans may actually occur broadly across taxa.

Tribute To Jaak Panksepp, Jonathan Balcombe

Animal Sentience

No abstract provided.

The Neonatal Anti-Viral Response Fails To Control Measles Virus Spread In Neurons Despite Interferon-Gamma Expression And A Th1-Like Cytokine Profile, Priya Ganesan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neonates are highly susceptible to infections in the central nervous system (CNS) and have a greater risk of viral infections and encephalopathies. Neurotropic viral infections can lead to blindness, hearing loss and neurological deficiencies such as cognitive impairment, epilepsy, and even death in the neonatal and pediatric populations. Viral infections also are hypothesized to indirectly contribute to neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases such as Schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease later in life due to early neuronal damage or stress. Many diverse viruses are capable of invading the neonatal CNS including Borna Disease Virus, Coxsackievirus (CV), Herpes simplex viruses (HSV), and measles virus. …

The Effects Of Alcohol And Traumatic Brain Injury On Neural Stem Cell Responses, Son Trung Ton

Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major source of disability in modern societies. However, there are no good pharmacological strategies for treating long-term TBI complications because we do not fully understand the injury processes that occur afterward. Moreover, a significant percent of patients entering the emergency room with TBI have a blood alcohol level above the legal limit. Alcohol use and intoxication is a widespread issue in our society. Binge drinking is the most common way in which alcohol is consumed, and alarmingly, Americans of all age groups binge drink on a frequent basis. Despite the prevalence of alcohol intoxication …

Endocytic Vesicle Rupture In The Pathogenesis And Propagation Of Neurodegenerative Proteinopathies, William P. Flavin

Dissertations

Numerous pathological amyloid proteins spread from cell-to-cell during neurodegenerative disease, facilitating the propagation of cellular pathology and disease progression. Understanding the mechanism by which disease-associated amyloid protein assemblies enter target cells and induce cellular dysfunction is therefore key to understanding the progressive nature of such neurodegenerative proteinopathies. In this study, we utilized an imaging-based assay to monitor the ability of disease-associated amyloid assemblies to induce the rupture of intracellular vesicles following endocytosis, as well as to elucidate the cellular consequences of this damaging mechanism of invasion. We observed that the ability to induce vesicle rupture is a conserved feature of …

Optimal Use Of Eeg Recordings To Target Active Brain Areas With Transcranial Electrical Stimulation, Jacek P. Dmochowski

Publications and Research

To demonstrate causal relationships between brain and behavior, investigators would like to guide brain stimulationusing measurements of neural activity. Particularly promising in this context are electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial electrical stimulation (TES), as they are linked by a reciprocity principle which, despite being known for decades, has not led to a formalism for relating EEG recordings to optimal stimulation parameters. Here we derive a closed-form expression for the TES configuration that optimally stimulates (i.e., targets) the sources of recorded EEG, without making assumptions about source location or distribution. We also derive a duality between TES targeting and EEG source …

Can Unconscious Brain Processes Indicate Sentience?, Vincent Taschereau-Dumouchel, Piercesare Grimaldi, Hakwan Lau

Animal Sentience

We disagree with Woodruff that we have good neurobiological reasons to think fishes are sentient, because mechanisms for consciousness are controversial even in humans. To the extent that there are consensuses in that literature, they do not support Woodruff's claims.

The Multiple Facets Of Empathy, Magdalena Boch, Claus Lamm

Animal Sentience

We discuss the definition of empathy provided by Kujala (2017) and argue that research in this field, in assigning the cognitive component of empathy only a secondary role, misses crucial information. Further knowledge about dogs’ ability for higher cognitive processes helps (a) in interpreting results such as potential prosocial behavior in dogs and (b) sheds light on the question of whether abilities like perspective-taking and self-other distinction are uniquely human.

Individual Variation In Fear Behaviour, Rob Found

Animal Sentience

Individual variation in behaviour adds another layer of complexity to studies of animal responses to fear and risk, but when individual responses are consistent, and correlated with other behaviours, these patterns can provide a structure that furthers our understanding. I interpret Beauchamp’s review of vigilance and fear from the perspective of my own studies of elk personality. Wild elk responses to changing stimuli (benign or aversive) illustrate how personality is a key factor in explaining variation in vigilance and fear behavior. Personality even influences how wildlife can learn to assess risk and adjust their fear responses accordingly.

Protein Kinase Mzeta (Pkm-Ζ) Regulates Kv1.2 Dependent Cerebellar Eyeblink Classical Conditioning, Kutibh Chihabi

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Learning and memory has been a topic that has captured the attention of the scientific and public communities since the dawn of scientific discovery. Without the faculty of memory, mammals cannot experience nor function in the world; among homosapiens specifically, language, relationships, and personal identity cannot be developed (Eysenck, 2012). After all, some philosophers such as John Locke argued we are nothing but a collection of past memories in which we have developed and improved upon (Nimbalkar, 2011).

Understanding the cellular mechanisms behind learning, and the subsequent formation of memory, has been a topic that has garnered scientific interest for …

The Biochemical Characterization Of Human Histidyl-Trna Synthetase And Disease Associated Variants, Jamie Alyson Abbott

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Human histidyl-tRNA synthetase (HARS) is an aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (AARS) that catalyzes the attachment of the amino acid histidine to histidyl-tRNA (tRNAHis) in a two-step reaction that is essential for protein translation. Currently, two human diseases, Usher Syndrome IIIB (USH3B) and an inherited peripheral neuropathy, Charcot Marie Tooth Syndrome (CMT), have been linked genetically to single point mutations in the HARS gene. The recessive HARS USH3B mutation encodes an Y454S substitution localized at the interface between the anticodon-binding domain and the catalytic domain of the opposing subunit. Patients with Usher Syndrome IIIB lose their sight and hearing during their second decade …

Pearls And Perils Of Pupillometry Using A Webcam, Mason Kadem, Rhodri Cusack

Undergraduate Honors Posters

Current methods to measure infants’ cognitive repertoire (i.e., collection of cognitive abilities) are limited. Previous testing paradigms required acquisition of non-age contextualized responses, and relied on measures that involved acquisition of other functions (e.g., language, motor). In addition to response limitations, cognitive functions may be difficult to observe in infants due to the difficulty in infant recruitment. Online testing has increased infant recruitment efforts and physiological responses have bypassed the motor, behavioural and linguistic limitations of infants. Recently, it has been shown that heart rate measures can be acquired through a webcam. Another feasible and reliable physiological measure is pupillometery, …

Short-Term Succinic Acid Treatment Mitigates Cerebellar Mitochondrial Oxphos Dysfunction, Neurodegeneration And Ataxia In A Purkinje-Specific Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 1 (Sca1) Mouse Model, Austin Ferro, Emily Carbone, Jenny Zhang, Evan Marzouk, Monica Villegas, Asher Siegel, Donna Nguyen, Thomas Possidente, Jessilyn Hartman, Kailen Polley, Melissa A. Ingram, Berry Georgia, Thomas H. Reynolds,, Bernard Possidente, Kimberley Frederick, Stephen J. Ives, Sarita Lagalwar

Health and Human Physiological Sciences

Mitochondrial dysfunction plays a significant role in neurodegenerative disease including ataxias and other movement disorders, particularly those marked by progressive degeneration in the cerebellum. In this study, we investigate the role of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) deficits in cerebellar tissue of a Purkinje cell-driven spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) mouse. Using RNA sequencing transcriptomics, OXPHOS complex assembly analysis and oxygen consumption assays, we report that in the presence of mutant polyglutamine-expanded ataxin-1, SCA1 mice display deficits in cerebellar OXPHOS complex I (NADH-coenzyme Q oxidoreductase). Complex I genes are upregulated at the time of symptom onset and upregulation persists into late …

Transposon-Mediated Stable Suppression Of Gene Expression In The Developing Chick Retina, Masaru Nakamoto, Chizu Nakamoto

Biology Faculty Publications

The embryonic chick has long been a favorite model system for in vivo studies of vertebrate development. However, a major technical limitation of the chick embryo has been the lack of efficient loss-of-function approaches for analyses of gene functions. Here, we describe a methodology in which a transgene encoding artificial microRNA sequences is introduced into embryonic chick retinal cells by in ovo electroporation and integrated into the genome using the Tol2 transposon system. We show that this methodology can induce potent and stable suppression of gene expression. This technique therefore provides a rapid and robust loss-of-function approach for studies of …