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Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons

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Cell and Developmental Biology

2016

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Articles 31 - 38 of 38

Full-Text Articles in Neuroscience and Neurobiology

Probing The Functional Relevance Of Reactive Hippocampal Neurogenesis In A Model Of An Alcohol Use Disorder, Chelsea Rhea Geil Nickell Jan 2016

Probing The Functional Relevance Of Reactive Hippocampal Neurogenesis In A Model Of An Alcohol Use Disorder, Chelsea Rhea Geil Nickell

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Alcoholism, or alcohol use disorders (AUDs), represent a major public health concern both locally and globally. Critically, excessive alcohol consumption results in neurodegeneration in brain regions such as the hippocampus which is known for its role in learning and memory. Recovery of hippocampal volume loss has been observed after prolonged abstinence, but the mechanisms underlying this process are not well understood. Adult neurogenesis is thought to contribute to this recovery since after alcohol exposure a reactive increase in adult neurogenesis is observed. This reactive neurogenesis (the process by which brain insult results in a compensatory increase in neurogenesis) may represent …


Potential For Aerobic Exercise To Release Growth Factors To Induce Cognitive Changes In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Maya Harrington Jan 2016

Potential For Aerobic Exercise To Release Growth Factors To Induce Cognitive Changes In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Maya Harrington

Undergraduate Research Posters

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is becoming increasingly prevalent among adolescents, and while the number of individuals diagnosed with the disorder grows, there continues to be no cure or even a clear treatment path for ASD. This study analyzes the biological stimulations that create cognitive changes—which are induced by intensive aerobic exercise—within the brains of individuals ages 8-18 diagnosed with autism. I studied journal articles on the current treatments available for ASD, the increasing prevalence of the disease, the cognitive alterations of the autistic brain relative to the brains of individuals without the disease, the release of growth factors due to …


Roles Of Planar Cell Polarity Proteins In Copa Axon Pathfinding, Ashley Morgan Purdy Jan 2016

Roles Of Planar Cell Polarity Proteins In Copa Axon Pathfinding, Ashley Morgan Purdy

Theses and Dissertations

In zebrafish, CoPA (Commissural Primary Ascending) is the first among ascending commissural axons to pathfind anteriorly and form the spinal commissure. One pathway that guides their anterior growth is the planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling pathway, but it is not fully known how PCP signaling regulates anterior guidance. We examined CoPA pathfinding in various PCP mutants to determine if anterior-posterior (A-P) guidance of CoPAs is dependent on PCP signaling. We found that certain PCP mutants exhibited anterior pathfinding defects, with approximately half of all affected CoPAs migrating incorrectly posteriorly. By using a translation-blocking DCC (Deleted in …


Phonophobia Mediates The Relationship Between The Myelinated Vagus And Selective Mutism, Alexandra Sherwood Batzdorf Jan 2016

Phonophobia Mediates The Relationship Between The Myelinated Vagus And Selective Mutism, Alexandra Sherwood Batzdorf

Senior Projects Spring 2016

When active, the myelinated vagus (the tenth cranial nerve) acts as a brake that inhibits sympathetic activity by reducing heart rate and blood pressure, and thus allows for social engagement by redirecting metabolic resources. Among those with selective mutism (SM), a disorder characterized by an inability to speak in certain situations, the vagal brake is dysregulated. One consequence of this is a weakening of the middle-ear acoustic reflex (MEAR), which helps clarify human voices and filters out low-frequency background noise, including the speaker’s own voice. I tested a proposed etiological model of SM and comorbid social anxiety disorder (SAD) by …


The Role Of Sox4 In Regulating Choroid Fissure Closure And Retinal Neurogenesis, Wen Wen Jan 2016

The Role Of Sox4 In Regulating Choroid Fissure Closure And Retinal Neurogenesis, Wen Wen

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

The development of the vertebrate eye is tightly controlled by precise genetic regulations. From a single ocular primordium to bilateral eyes with complex structures and cell types, it requires intensive proliferation and migration for cells in both the ectoderm and mesoderm to accomplish ocular morphogenesis, and during this process cell differentiation and interaction takes place to establish the complex composition of ocular cell types and cellular connections. Genetic defects can lead to severe abnormalities in eye morphogenesis and cell differentiation during ocular development. A tremendous amount of work has been done to identify both intrinsic and extrinsic factors that regulate …


Intrinsic And Extrinsic Regulation Of Pineal Melatonin Rhythms, Ye Li Jan 2016

Intrinsic And Extrinsic Regulation Of Pineal Melatonin Rhythms, Ye Li

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Circadian rhythm is a biological rhythm with period of about 24 hours. Circadian rhythm is universal in phyla from bacteria to mammals and exists in different level from gene expression to behavior. Circadian system consists of three components: 1) a self-sustained oscillator; 2) an input pathway which can alter the phase of the oscillator; and 3) an output such as gene expression, enzyme activity, hormone production, heart rate, body temperature or locomotor activities. The way the oscillator regulates its outputs is complicated, in that on one hand usually the oscillator is not the only factor affecting the outputs, and on …


Excess Folic Acid As A Potential Competitor Of Glutamate May Interfere With Neural Development, Benjamin Fick Jan 2016

Excess Folic Acid As A Potential Competitor Of Glutamate May Interfere With Neural Development, Benjamin Fick

Honors Program Theses

Folic acid, Vitamin B9, is strongly advised as a supplement taken by pregnant woman to maintain the health of the embryo, and deficiency increases the risk of neural tube defects. However, a safe upper limit of folate to consume has not been established, and an excess of dietary folate may interfere with neurodevelopmental metabolism, increasing the risk of adverse outcomes, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It has been suggested that folate affects connectivity among neurons as the brain develops. Glutamate is important in the regulation of neural tissue development, as it is a common excitatory neurotransmitter that binds to synaptic …


Resolution Of Inflammation Rescues Axon Initial Segment Disruption, Nicholas M. George Jan 2016

Resolution Of Inflammation Rescues Axon Initial Segment Disruption, Nicholas M. George

Theses and Dissertations

Axonal domains are required for proper neuron function. These domains are unstable and degenerate concurrent with the inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS) and the inflammatory disease models experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced inflammation. Previous studies from our laboratory have shown that the axon initial segment (AIS) is maintained independently of the presence of myelin, but that AIS disruption is seen in MS as well as EAE and LPS-mediated inflammation. AIS loss can be interrupted in the early stage of EAE using the anti-inflammatory drug Didox. However, the potential for Didox directed repair of the AIS in later …