Cell and Developmental Biology Commons^™

Entry And Replication Of Negative-Strand Rna Viruses, Kerri Boggs

Theses and Dissertations--Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Hendra virus (HeV) and human metapneumovirus (HMPV) are negative-sense, singled-stranded RNA viruses. The paramyxovirus HeV is classified as a biosafety level 4 pathogen due to its high fatality rate and the lack of a human vaccine or antiviral treatment. HMPV is a widespread pneumovirus that causes respiratory tract infections which are particularly dangerous for young children, immunocompromised individuals, and the elderly. Like HeV, no vaccines or therapies are available to combat HMPV infections. These viruses fuse their lipid envelopes with a cell to initiate infection. Blocking cell entry is a promising approach for antiviral development, and many vaccines are designed …

Therapeutic Targeting Of Leukemia Stem Cells To Prevent T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Relapse, Meghan G. Haney

Theses and Dissertations--Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

The survival rate of T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-ALL) relapse is a dismal 10% of affected adults and 30% of children, largely due to the relapsed disease being more aggressive and treatment resistant than the initial disease. Relapse is thought to occur because conventional chemotherapies are unable to reliably eliminate a unique cell type known as leukemia stem (or propagating) cells (LSCs). LSCs are the only cells within the leukemia with the ability to self-renew and remake or replenish the ALL from a single cell. Currently, the pathways governing self-renewal in LSCs are largely unknown, precluding our ability to successfully …

Reversible Glucan Phosphorylation In The Red Alga, Cyanidioschyzon Merolae, Corey Owen Brizzee

Theses and Dissertations--Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Starch and glycogen are an essential component for the majority of species and have been developed to maintain homeostasis in response to environmental changes. Water-soluble glycogen is an excellent source of quick, short-term energy in response to energy demands. In contrast, plants and algae have developed the macromolecule starch that is elegantly suitable for their dependence on external circumstances. Semi-crystalline starch is water-insoluble and inaccessible to most amylolytic enzymes, thus plants and algae have developed a coordinated system so that these enzymes can gain access to the denser starch energy cache. Starch-like semi-crystalline polysaccharides are also found in red algae, …

Molecular Mechanisms Regulating Optic Fissure Fusion During Zebrafish Eye Development, Megan Weaver

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Vertebrate retinal development requires timely and precise fusion of the optic fissure. Failure of this event leads to congenital vision impairment in the form of coloboma. Recent studies have suggested hyaloid vasculature to be involved in OF fusion. In order to examine this link, we analyzed optic fissure fusion and hyaloid vasculogenesis in the zebrafish pax2a noi mutant line. We first determined that pax2a^-/- embryos fail to accumulate F-actin in the optic fissure prior to basement membrane (BM) degradation. Furthermore, using 3D and live imaging we observed reduced OF hyaloid vascularization in pax2a^-/- embryos. When examining the connection …

Leveraging Transcriptomic Approaches To Identify Differences In Genetic Programming Driving Two Distinct Wound Healing Mechanisms, Regeneration And Fibrosis, In Acomys And Mus, Shishir K. Biswas

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Why can some animals and others cannot? This fundamental question has fueled scientists studying regeneration for hundreds of years since early observations in crayfish, salamanders and many other organisms. While most contemporary work in regeneration is done in a handful of species including salamanders, zebrafish and flatforms, these organisms lack a closely-related, non-regenerating sister species from which unique genetic differences can be identified. Additionally, while much has been learned from these organisms, they do not share fundamental biological traits with mammals (endothermy, metabolism and immune system) which limits the ability to translate this research for clinical medicine. To this end, …

Cellular Bioenergetics Regulates Cell Proliferation During Mammalian Regeneration, Sandeep Saxena

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Mammalian system consists of stress-sensing molecules that regulates their cellular response against damage, injury and oncogenic stress. During vertebrate regeneration, cells responding to injury re-enter the cell cycle and proliferate to form new tissue. Cell cycle re-entry or arrest is at least partly regulated by cellular senescence which negatively impacts the proliferative pool of cells during regeneration. What remains unclear is whether cells in regenerating systems possess an increased propensity to proliferate and are refractory to signals that induce senescence. My thesis work has focused on how fibroblasts from the ear pinna differentially regulate healing in highly regenerative mammals (e.g., …

Delineating The Role Of Fatty Acid Metabolism To Improve Therapeutic Strategies For Colorectal Cancer, James Drury

Theses and Dissertations--Toxicology and Cancer Biology

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the world, comprising over 1 million new cases each year and over 500,000 deaths. CRC, when detected at an early stage of disease development, can be effectively treated, with a 5-year survival rate of over 90%. Such standard treatments include surgical resection of the primary tumor in combination with adjuvant chemotherapy. However, even with advancements in surgical procedures and chemotherapeutic targets, when CRC progresses to a more advance stage, the 5-year survival rate decreases significantly to just under 14%. This stark decrease in patient survival rate can be directly …

Investigation Of Multidrug Efflux Transporter Acrb In Escherichia Coli: Assembly, Degradation And Dynamics, Prasangi Irosha Rajapaksha

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

The Resistant Nodulation Division (RND) super family member, tripartite AcrA-AcrB-TolC efflux pump, is a major contributor in conferring multidrug-resistance in Escherichia coli. The structure of the pump complex, and drug translocation by functional rotation mechanism have been widely studied. Despite of all these data, the dynamics of the assembly process of the pump and AcrB during functional rotation in the process of drug efflux remains poorly understood. My thesis focuses on understanding the pump assembly process, dynamics of AcrB in functional rotation mechanism, and also investigate the mechanism of degradation of AcrB facilitated by a C-terminal ssrA tag.

In the …

Developing Synthetic Strategies For Multifaceted Applications Of Stable Gold-Based Complexes, Randall Tyler Mertens

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Development of stable gold-based complexes has been a rapidly advancing field due to the popularity of gold complexes, particularly for use in biomedical research and catalytic transformations. Given that auranofin, a gold(I) complex with FDA approval for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is used in the clinic, the development of stable gold-based molecules of clinical relevance is urgently needed. Herein are reported, synthetic strategies used for the development of new classes of gold(I) and gold(III) complexes for advancement in mitochondrial modulation for use as chemotherapeutics as well as application to gold catalysis due to the unique geometry of complexes presented …

Molecular Signatures Of Sexual Communication In The Phlebotomine Sand Flies, Paul V. Hickner, Nataliya Timoshevskaya, Ronald J. Nowling, Frédéric Labbé, Andrew D. Nguyen, Mary Ann Mcdowell, Carolina N. Spiegel, Zainulabeuddin Syed

Biology Faculty Publications

Phlebotomine sand flies employ an elaborate system of pheromone communication wherein males produce pheromones that attract other males to leks (thus acting as an aggregation pheromone) and females to the lekking males (sex pheromone). In addition, the type of pheromone produced varies among populations. Despite the numerous studies on sand fly chemical communication, little is known of their chemosensory genome. Chemoreceptors interact with chemicals in an organism’s environment to elicit essential behaviors such as the identification of suitable mates and food sources. Thus, they play important roles during adaptation and speciation. Major chemoreceptor gene families, odorant receptors (ORs), gustatory receptors …

Arp2/3-Independent Wave/Scar Pathway And Class Xi Myosin Control Sperm Nuclear Migration In Flowering Plants, Mohammad F. Ali, Umma Fatema, Xiongbo Peng, Samuel W. Hacker, Daisuke Maruyama, Meng-Xiang Sun, Tomokazu Kawashima

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

After eukaryotic fertilization, gamete nuclei migrate to fuse parental genomes in order to initiate development of the next generation. In most animals, microtubules control female and male pronuclear migration in the zygote. Flowering plants, on the other hand, have evolved actin filament (F-actin)-based sperm nuclear migration systems for karyogamy. Flowering plants have also evolved a unique double-fertilization process: two female gametophytic cells, the egg and central cells, are each fertilized by a sperm cell. The molecular and cellular mechanisms of how flowering plants utilize and control F-actin for double-fertilization events are largely unknown. Using confocal microscopy live-cell imaging with a …

K2p2.1 (Trek-1) Potassium Channel Activation Protects Against Hyperoxia-Induced Lung Injury, Tatiana Zyrianova, Benjamin Lopez, Riccardo Olcese, John Belperio, Christopher M. Waters, Leanne Wong, Victoria Nguyen, Sriharsha Talapaneni, Andreas Schwingshackl

Physiology Faculty Publications

No targeted therapies exist to counteract Hyperoxia (HO)-induced Acute Lung Injury (HALI). We previously found that HO downregulates alveolar K_2P2.1 (TREK-1) K⁺ channels, which results in worsening lung injury. This decrease in TREK-1 levels leaves a subset of channels amendable to pharmacological intervention. Therefore, we hypothesized that TREK-1 activation protects against HALI. We treated HO-exposed mice and primary alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) with the novel TREK-1 activators ML335 and BL1249, and quantified physiological, histological, and biochemical lung injury markers. We determined the effects of these drugs on epithelial TREK-1 currents, plasma membrane potential (Em), and intracellular Ca …

Proteasome-Mediated Regulation Of Cdhr1a By Siah1 Modulates Photoreceptor Development And Survival In Zebrafish, Warlen P. Piedade, Kayla F. Titialii-Torres, Ann C. Morris, Jakub K. Famulski

Biology Faculty Publications

Congenital retinal dystrophies are a major cause of unpreventable and incurable blindness worldwide. Mutations in CDHR1, a retina specific cadherin, are associated with cone-rod dystrophy. The ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is responsible for mediating orderly and precise targeting of protein degradation to maintain biological homeostasis and coordinate proper development, including retinal development. Recently, our lab uncovered that the seven in absentia (Siah) family of E3 ubiquitin ligases play a role in optic fissure fusion and identified Cdhr1a as a potential target of Siah. Using two-color whole mount in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, we detected siah1 and cdhr1a co-expression as well …

Ceramide Analog [18F]F-Hpa-12 Detects Sphingolipid Disbalance In The Brain Of Alzheimer’S Disease Transgenic Mice By Functioning As A Metabolic Probe, Simone M. Crivelli, Daan Van Kruining, Qian Luo, Jo A. A. Stevens, Caterina Giovagnoni, Andreas Paulus, Matthias Bauwens, Dusan Berkes, Helga E. De Vries, Monique T. Mulder, Jochen Walter, Etienne Waelkens, Rita Derua, Johannes V. Swinnen, Jonas Dehairs, Felix M. Mottaghy, Mario Losen, Erhard Bieberich, Pilar Martinez-Martinez

Physiology Faculty Publications

The metabolism of ceramides is deregulated in the brain of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients and is associated with apolipoprotein (APO) APOE4 and amyloid-β pathology. However, how the ceramide metabolism changes over time in AD, in vivo, remains unknown. Distribution and metabolism of [¹⁸F]F-HPA-12, a radio-fluorinated version of the ceramide analog N-(3-hydroxy-1-hydroxymethyl-3-phenylpropyl) dodecanamide, was investigated in the brain of AD transgenic mouse models (FAD) on an APOE4 or APOE3 genetic background, by positron emission tomography and by gamma counter. We found that FAD mice displayed a higher uptake of [¹⁸F]F-HPA-12 in the brain, independently from the APOE4 …

Tdp-43 Mediated Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability And Leukocyte Infiltration Promote Neurodegeneration In A Low-Grade Systemic Inflammation Mouse Model, Frank Zamudio, Anjanet R. Loon, Shayna Smeltzer, Khawla Benyamine, Nanda K. Navalpur Shanmugam, Nicholas J. F. Stewart, Daniel C. Lee, Kevin Nash, Maj-Linda B. Selenica

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions containing TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) are a neuropathological feature of several neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Emerging evidence also indicates that systemic inflammation may be a contributor to the pathology progression of these neurodegenerative diseases.

METHODS: To investigate the role of systemic inflammation in the progression of neuronal TDP-43 pathology, AAV9 particles driven by the UCHL1 promoter were delivered to the frontal cortex of wild-type aged mice via intracranial injections to overexpress TDP-43 or green fluorescent protein (GFP) in corticospinal motor neurons. Animals were then subjected …

Rho Gtpases: Big Players In Breast Cancer Initiation, Metastasis And Therapeutic Responses, Brock Humphries, Zhishan Wang, Chengfeng Yang

Toxicology and Cancer Biology Faculty Publications

Rho GTPases, a family of the Ras GTPase superfamily, are key regulators of the actin cytoskeleton. They were originally thought to primarily affect cell migration and invasion; however, recent advances in our understanding of the biology and function of Rho GTPases have demonstrated their diverse roles within the cell, including membrane trafficking, gene transcription, migration, invasion, adhesion, survival and growth. As these processes are critically involved in cancer initiation, metastasis and therapeutic responses, it is not surprising that studies have demonstrated important roles of Rho GTPases in cancer. Although the majority of data indicates an oncogenic role of Rho GTPases, …

Develop A High-Throughput Screening Method To Identify C-P4h1 (Collagen Prolyl 4-Hydroxylase 1) Inhibitors From Fda-Approved Chemicals, Shike Wang, Kuo-Hao Lee, Nathália Victoria Araujo, Chang-Guo Zhan, Vivek M. Rangnekar, Ren Xu

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Collagen prolyl 4-hydroxylase 1 (C-P4H1) is an α-ketoglutarate (α-KG)-dependent dioxygenase that catalyzes 4-hydroxylation of proline on collagen. C-P4H1-induced prolyl hydroxylation is required for proper collagen deposition and cancer metastasis. Therefore, targeting C-P4H1 is considered a potential therapeutic strategy for collagen-related cancer progression and metastasis. However, no C-P4H1 inhibitors are available for clinical testing, and the high content assay is currently not available for C-P4H1 inhibitor screening. In the present study, we developed a high-throughput screening assay by quantifying succinate, a byproduct of C-P4H-catalyzed hydroxylation. C-P4H1 is the major isoform of collagen prolyl 4-hydroxylases (CP4Hs) that contributes the majority prolyl 4-hydroxylase …

Upregulation Of Cpt1a Is Essential For The Tumor-Promoting Effect Of Adipocytes In Colon Cancer, Xiaopeng Xiong, Yang-An Wen, Rachelle Fairchild, Yekaterina Y. Zaytseva, Heidi L. Weiss, B. Mark Evers, Tianyan Gao

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Colon tumors grow in an adipose tissue-enriched microenvironment. Locally advanced colon cancers often invade into surrounding adipose tissue with a direct contact with adipocytes. We have previously shown that adipocytes promote tumor growth by modulating cellular metabolism. Here we demonstrate that carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPT1A), a key enzyme controlling fatty acid oxidation (FAO), was upregulated in colon cancer cells upon exposure to adipocytes or fatty acids. In addition, CPT1A expression was increased in invasive tumor cells within the adipose tissue compared to tumors without direct contact with adipocytes. Silencing CPT1A abolished the protective effect provided by fatty acids against nutrient …

Igf-1r Inhibition Induces Mek Phosphorylation To Promote Survival In Colon Carcinomas, Qing Wang, Yan Zhang, Jiang Zhu, Honggang Zheng, Shuntai Chen, Li Chen, Hsin-Sheng Yang

Toxicology and Cancer Biology Faculty Publications

The insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) governs several signaling pathways for cell proliferation, survival, and anti-apoptosis. Thus, targeting IGF-1R appears as a reasonable rationale for tumor treatment. However, clinical studies showed that inhibition of IGF-1R has very limited efficacy due to the development of resistance to IGF-1R blockade in tumor cells. Here, we discovered that prolonged treatment of colon cancer cells with IGF-1R inhibitors (BMS-754807 and GSK1838705A) stimulates p70 KDa ribosomal protein S6 kinase 1 (p70S6K1) activation, a well-known kinase signaling for cell survival. We also found that p70S6K1 activation by IGF-1R inhibition is independent of K-Ras and PIK3CA …

Cellular Dynamics Of Double Fertilization And Early Embryogenesis In Flowering Plants, Ji Min Shin, Ling Yuan, Masaru Ohme-Takagi, Tomokazu Kawashima

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Flowering plants (angiosperms) perform a unique double fertilization in which two sperm cells fuse with two female gamete cells in the embryo sac to develop a seed. Furthermore, during land plant evolution, the mode of sexual reproduction has been modified dramatically from motile sperm in the early-diverging land plants, such as mosses and ferns as well as some gymnosperms (Ginkgo and cycads) to nonmotile sperm that are delivered to female gametes by the pollen tube in flowering plants. Recent studies have revealed the cellular dynamics and molecular mechanisms for the complex series of double fertilization processes and elucidated differences …

Palbociclib Treatment Alters Nucleotide Biosynthesis And Glutamine Dependency In A549 Cells, Lindsey R. Conroy, Pawel Lorkiewicz, Liqing He, Xinmin Yin, Xiang Zhang, Shesh N. Rai, Brian F. Clem

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

Background

Aberrant activity of cell cycle proteins is one of the key somatic events in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) pathogenesis. In most NSCLC cases, the retinoblastoma protein tumor suppressor (RB) becomes inactivated via constitutive phosphorylation by cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6, leading to uncontrolled cell proliferation. Palbociclib, a small molecule inhibitor of CDK4/6, has shown anti-tumor activity in vitro and in vivo, with recent studies demonstrating a functional role for palbociclib in reprogramming cellular metabolism. While palbociclib has shown efficacy in preclinical models of NSCLC, the metabolic consequences of CDK4/6 inhibition in this context are largely unknown.

Methods

In …

Gocats: A Tool For Categorizing Gene Ontology Into Subgraphs Of User-Defined Concepts, Eugene Waverly Hinderer Iii, Hunter N. B. Moseley

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Gene Ontology is used extensively in scientific knowledgebases and repositories to organize a wealth of biological information. However, interpreting annotations derived from differential gene lists is often difficult without manually sorting into higher-order categories. To address these issues, we present GOcats, a novel tool that organizes the Gene Ontology (GO) into subgraphs representing user-defined concepts, while ensuring that all appropriate relations are congruent with respect to scoping semantics. We tested GOcats performance using subcellular location categories to mine annotations from GO-utilizing knowledgebases and evaluated their accuracy against immunohistochemistry datasets in the Human Protein Atlas (HPA). In comparison to term categorizations …

Spatiotemporal Characterization Of Anterior Segment Mesenchyme Heterogeneity During Zebrafish Ocular Anterior Segment Development, Kristyn L. Van Der Meulen, Oliver Vöcking, Megan L. Weaver, Nishita N. Meshram, Jakub K. Famulski

Biology Faculty Publications

Assembly of the ocular anterior segment (AS) is a critical event during development of the vertebrate visual system. Failure in this process leads to anterior segment dysgenesis (ASD), which is characterized by congenital blindness and predisposition to glaucoma. The anterior segment is largely formed via a neural crest-derived population, the Periocular Mesenchyme (POM). In this study, we aimed to characterize POM behaviors and transcriptional identities during early establishment of the zebrafish AS. Two-color fluorescent in situ hybridization suggested that early AS associated POM comprise of a heterogenous population. In vivo and time-course imaging analysis of POM distribution and migratory dynamics …

Hsp47 Promotes Cancer Metastasis By Enhancing Collagen-Dependent Cancer Cell-Platelet Interaction, Gaofeng Xiong, Jie Chen, Guoying Zhang, Shike Wang, Kunito Kawasaki, Jieqing Zhu, Yan Zhang, Kazuhiro Nagata, Zhenyu Li, Binhua P. Zhou, Ren Xu

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Increased expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) suggests potential function of cancer cell-produced ECM in initiation of cancer cell colonization. Here, we showed that collagen and heat shock protein 47 (Hsp47), a chaperone facilitating collagen secretion and deposition, were highly expressed during the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and in CTCs. Hsp47 expression induced mesenchymal phenotypes in mammary epithelial cells (MECs), enhanced platelet recruitment, and promoted lung retention and colonization of cancer cells. Platelet depletion in vivo abolished Hsp47-induced cancer cell retention in the lung, suggesting that Hsp47 promotes cancer cell colonization by enhancing cancer cell–platelet interaction. …

Limb Development In Salamanders: An Evolutionary Perspective To The Tetrapod Limb, Sruthi Purushothaman

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Vertebrate limb is an ideal model to study growth, patterning and morphogenesis and the interplay between these processes. The developing limb bud is a three-dimensional structure and its outgrowth depends on the interaction between 2 important signaling centers: the Apical Ectodermal Ridge (AER) at the junction of the dorsal and ventral halves of the limb bud and the Zone of Polarizing activity (ZPA) in the posterior mesenchyme. These centers produce their respective key molecules and the close interplay between them specifies structures along the anterior-posterior (thumb to pinky), proximal-distal (shoulder to fingertips) and dorsal-ventral (knuckle to palm) axes.

Developmental biologists …

Combination Of Investigational Cell-Based Therapy And Deep Brain Stimulation To Alter The Progression Of Parkinson’S Disease, Nader El Seblani

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder and the motor symptoms are caused by progressive loss of midbrain dopamine neurons. There is no current treatment that can slow or reverse PD. Our current “DBS-Plus” clinical trial (NCT02369003) features the implantation in vivo of autologous Schwann cells (SCs) derived from a patient’s sural nerve into the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) in combination with Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) therapy for treating patients with advanced PD.

The central hypothesis of our research is that transdifferentiated SCs within conditioned nerve tissue will deliver pro-regenerative factors to enhance the survival of …

Donor Age Effects On The Proliferative And Chondrogenic/Osteogenic Differentiation Performance Of Equine Bone Marrow- And Adipose Tissue Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells In Culture, Jasmin Bagge

Theses and Dissertations--Veterinary Science

Orthopedic injuries are a major cause of lameness and morbidity in horses. Bone marrow (BM)- and adipose tissue (AT) derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown potential to facilitate the repair of orthopedic injuries and are being used increasingly in veterinary clinics. Presently, the use of MSCs as a therapy for equine patients is most commonly applied as autologous transplants, using BM- and AT-MSCs harvested from the patient shortly after the time of injury. Cell-based therapies are therefore delayed to enable primary cell numbers to be expanded in culture. Of concern, however, are human and rodent studies that have shown …

Comparative Chondrogenesis Of Interzone And Anlagen Cells In Equine Skeletal Development, Chanhee Mok

Theses and Dissertations--Veterinary Science

At the presumptive sites of future synovial joints during mammalian skeletogenesis, articular cartilage develops from interzone located between the cartilaginous anlagen of bones. Thus, two types of cartilaginous tissues differentiate in close proximity. While anlagen cartilage is transient, progressing through endochondral ossification to form bones, articular cartilage is stable and functions throughout life to facilitate both low friction movement and load distribution. Despite important life-long functional properties, articular cartilage has a very limited intrinsic ability to repair structural defects. On the other hand, structural lesions in bones generally heal well by forming a cartilaginous callus and recapitulating endochondral ossification to …

Siah-Mediated Ups Regulation Of The Development Of The Visual System In Zebrafish (Danio Rerio), Warlen Pereira Piedade

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

The eye is a complex organ responsible for vision that which formation depends on several intricate developmental steps. Vision for humans is responsible for the majority of its sensory interactions with the environment. Eye development can be divided into two critical stages: morphogenesis, which establishes the eye structure culminating with the fusion of the optic fissure, a transient cleft important for eye vascularization, and subsequently specification and differentiation of the retina to form every type of retinal neuronal cell, including photoreceptors, rods and cones. Developmental failure in either of these critical stages can lead to inherited congenital or age-related blinding …

The Effect Of Ph On Synaptic Transmission At The Neuromuscular Junction In Drosophila Melanogaster, Catherine Elizabeth Stanley

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Synaptic transmission is the main avenue of neuronal communication and can be affected by a multitude of factors, both intracellularly and extracellularly. The effects of pH changes on synaptic transmission have been studied for many years across many different models. Intracellular acidification at the presynaptic terminal is known to occur with increased neuronal activity and can also occur in pathological conditions. The effects of these pH alterations are therefore an important area of study. Here, intracellular acidification using either propionic acid or the ammonium chloride pre-pulse technique was examined for the effects on both spontaneous and evoked synaptic transmission at …