Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

The Posterior Hypothalamus Exerts Opposing Effects On Nociception Via The A7 Catecholamine Cell Group In Rats, Y. Jeong, J. R. Moes, M. Wagner, J. E. Holden

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Stimulation of the posterior hypothalamic area (PH) produces antinociception in rats and humans, but the precise mechanisms are unknown. The PH forms anatomical connections with the parabrachial area, which contains the pontine A7 catecholamine cell group, a group of spinally projecting noradrenergic neurons known to produce antinociception in the dorsal horn. The aim of the present study was to determine whether PH-induced antinociception is mediated in part through connections with the A7 cell group in female Sprague-Dawley rats, as measured by the tail flick and foot withdrawal latency. Stimulation of the PH with the cholinergic agonist carbachol (125nmol) produced antinociception …

The Posterior Hypothalamus Exerts Opposing Effects On Nociception Via The A7 Catecholamine Cell Group In Rats, Y. Jeong, J. R. Moes, M. Wagner, J. E. Holden

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Stimulation of the posterior hypothalamic area (PH) produces antinociception in rats and humans, but the precise mechanisms are unknown. The PH forms anatomical connections with the parabrachial area, which contains the pontine A7 catecholamine cell group, a group of spinally projecting noradrenergic neurons known to produce antinociception in the dorsal horn. The aim of the present study was to determine whether PH-induced antinociception is mediated in part through connections with the A7 cell group in female Sprague-Dawley rats, as measured by the tail flick and foot withdrawal latency. Stimulation of the PH with the cholinergic agonist carbachol (125nmol) produced antinociception …

Chronic Stress Elevates Telomerase Activity In Rats, Annaliese K. Beery, Jue Lin, Joshua S. Biddle, Darlene D. Francis, Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Elissa S. Epel

Neuroscience: Faculty Publications

The enzyme telomerase lengthens telomeres—protective structures containing repetitive DNA sequences at chromosome ends. Telomere shortening is associated with diseases of ageing in mammals. Chronic stress has been related to shorter immune-cell telomeres, but telomerase activity under stress may be low, permitting telomere loss, or high, partially attenuating it. We developed an experimental model to examine the impacts of extended unpredictable stress on telomerase activity in male rats. Telomerase activity was 54 per cent higher in stressed rats than in controls, and associated with stress-related physiological and behavioural outcomes. This significant increase suggests a potential mechanism for resilience to stress-related replicative …

Characterization Of The Circadian Properties Of Runt-Related Transcription Factor 2 (Runx2) And Its Role In The Suprachiasmatic Nucleus, Meghan E. Reale

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Circadian rhythms orchestrate physiological, behavioral and cognitive processes in order to anticipate and adapt organisms to key environmental cues. These endogenously driven oscillations are generated by a network of interlocked auto-regulatory transcriptional-translational feedback loops driven forward by the Bmal1/Clock heterodimer transcription factor. Given the ubiquitous and dynamic quality of circadian rhythms, the identification of factors involved in the coordination and regulation of the endogenous oscillations is central in broadening our understanding of biological timing systems. In an examination of gene expression in the mammalian central circadian pacemaker, the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), revealed a previously unreported rhythmic expression of runt-related …

Effects Of Neonatal Hypoxic Ischemic Brain Injury On Spatial Working Memory, Amanda L. Smith

Master's Theses

Children born prematurely or at very low birth weight (VLBW) have an increased risk for hypoxic ischemic brain injury (HI). HI refers to a lack of adequate blood and oxygen flow in the brain. HI can also occur in the term infant due to birth complications such as prolonged labor, placental dysfunction, or cord prolapse. In both populations (though exact patterns of neuropathology vary) brain damage is likely to occur in the form of decreased hippocampal and cortical volume, and enlargement of the ventricles (Kesler et al., 2004, Nagy et al., 2009). Resulting neuropathology can in turn lead to cognitive …

Autonomic And Behavioral Reactivity To An Acute Laboratory Stressor, Jeremy C. Peres

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Stress has been widely shown to directly influence people’s emotional and behavioral processing as well as their underlying biological systems. This project examined physiological and behavioral responses as indicators of stress and coping in the context of a psychosocial stressor in a controlled laboratory setting. We examined the association between indicators of behavioral coping and underlying physiological reactivity within participants while experiencing stress. Participants included 68 emerging adults. Physiological measures include autonomic biomarkers (e.g., heart-rate, skin conductance) at rest and during the stressor while behavioral indicators that were coded include acute verbal and non-verbal actions exhibited by participants during the …

Homologous Recombination Mediates Functional Recovery Of Dysferlin Deficiency Following Aav5 Gene Transfer, William E. Grose, K. Reed Clark, Danielle Griffin, Vinod Malik, Kimberly M. Shontz, Chrystal L. Montgomery, Sarah Lewis, Robert H. Brown Jr., Paul M. L. Janssen, Jerry R. Mendell, Louise R. Rodino-Klapac

Dr Robert Brown

The dysferlinopathies comprise a group of untreatable muscle disorders including limb girdle muscular dystrophy type 2B, Miyoshi myopathy, distal anterior compartment syndrome, and rigid spine syndrome. As with other forms of muscular dystrophy, adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene transfer is a particularly auspicious treatment strategy, however the size of the DYSF cDNA (6.5 kb) negates packaging into traditional AAV serotypes known to express well in muscle (i.e. rAAV1, 2, 6, 8, 9). Potential advantages of a full cDNA versus a mini-gene include: maintaining structural-functional protein domains, evading protein misfolding, and avoiding novel epitopes that could be immunogenic. AAV5 has demonstrated unique …

Adenosine Deaminase Enhances The Immunogenicity Of Human Dendritic Cells From Healthy And Hiv-Infected Individuals, Víctor Casanova, Isaac Isaac Naval-Macabuhay, Marta Massanella, Marta Rodríguez-García

Dartmouth Scholarship

ADA is an enzyme implicated in purine metabolism, and is critical to ensure normal immune function. Its congenital deficit leads to severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). ADA binding to adenosine receptors on dendritic cell surface enables T-cell costimulation through CD26 crosslinking, which enhances T-cell activation and proliferation. Despite a large body of work on the actions of the ecto-enzyme ADA on T-cell activation, questions arise on whether ADA can also modulate dendritic cell maturation. To this end we investigated the effects of ADA on human monocyte derived dendritic cell biology. Our results show that both the enzymatic and non-enzymatic activities of …

Process And Domain Specificity In Regions Engaged For Face Processing: An Fmri Study Of Perceptual Differentiation, Heather R. Collins, Xun Zhu, Ramesh S. Bhatt, Jonathan D. Clark, Jane E. Joseph

Psychology Faculty Publications

The degree to which face-specific brain regions are specialized for different kinds of perceptual processing is debated. This study parametrically varied demands on featural, first-order configural, or second-order configural processing of faces and houses in a perceptual matching task to determine the extent to which the process of perceptual differentiation was selective for faces regardless of processing type (domain-specific account), specialized for specific types of perceptual processing regardless of category (process-specific account), engaged in category-optimized processing (i.e., configural face processing or featural house processing), or reflected generalized perceptual differentiation (i.e., differentiation that crosses category and processing type boundaries). ROIs were …

Spectrum Of Acute Clinical Characteristics Of Diagnosed Concussions In College Athletes Wearing Instrumented Helmets, Ann-Christine Duhaime,, Jonathan G. Beckwith, Arthur C. Maerlender, Thomas W. Mcallister, Joseph J. Crisco, Stefan M. Duma, P. Gunnar Brolinson, Steven Rowson, Laura A. Flashman, Jeffrey J. Chu, Richard M. Greenwald

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Object. Concussive head injuries have received much attention in the medical and public arenas, as concerns have been raised about the potential shortand long-term consequences of injuries sustained in sports and other activities. While many student athletes have required evaluation after concussion, the exact definition of concussion has varied among disciplines and over time. The authors used data gathered as part of a multiinstitutional longitudinal study of the biomechanics of head impacts in helmeted collegiate athletes to characterize what signs, symptoms, and clinical histories were used to designate players as having sustained concussions.

Methods. Players on 3 college …

Quintessence Of Dust: Cognitive Neuroscience And An Actor's Process, Jason Christopher Davis

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

This thesis examines theories provided by cognitive neuroscience and applies them to an actor’s process. In particular, this research addresses the subjectivity and intentionality of our consciousness and special as-if states of consciousness, supported by the work of John Searle and Antonio Damasio. The phenomenal feeling of character-model control is discussed and supported by the work of Thomas Metzinger. The paper also considers our relative understanding of mirror neurons and specifically their function in relation to intersubjectivity and their use for an actor’s creation and conveyance of character in rehearsal and performance. It examines Stanislavsky’s notion of emotional memory and …

Septohippocampal Gabaergic Neurons Mediate The Altered Behaviors Induced By N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Antagonists., Jingyi Ma, Siew Kian Tai, L Stan Leung

Physiology and Pharmacology Publications

We hypothesize that selective lesion of the septohippocampal GABAergic neurons suppresses the altered behaviors induced by an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, ketamine or MK-801. In addition, we hypothesize that septohippocampal GABAergic neurons generate an atropine-resistant theta rhythm that coexists with an atropine-sensitive theta rhythm in the hippocampus. Infusion of orexin-saporin (ore-SAP) into the medial septal area decreased parvalbumin-immunoreactive (GABAergic) neurons by ~80%, without significantly affecting choline-acetyltransferase-immunoreactive (cholinergic) neurons. The theta rhythm during walking, or the immobility-associated theta induced by pilocarpine, was not different between ore-SAP and sham-lesion rats. Walking theta was, however, more disrupted by atropine sulfate in ore-SAP than …

House Finches, Carpodacus Mexicanus: Hormones, Stress, And Song Control Regions, Katherine Olivia Ganster

Master's Theses

Song production in songbirds is controlled by parts of the brain known as the song control regions (SCRs). During spring, gonads increase in size, males sing to attract mates, and SCRs become larger. This neuroplasticity is controlled by the change in day length and increased plasma testosterone (T) levels. Plasma T can be reduced by stress through the production of corticosterone (CORT), through the production of beta-endorphin, or through direct effects on the testes via the nervous system. We determined the T, estradiol, and CORT hormonal profiles of wild House Finches by capturing and sampling blood from the finches every …

Low Cost Neurochairs, Frankie Pike

Master's Theses

Electroencephalography (EEG) was formerly confined to clinical and research settings with the necessary hardware costing thousands of dollars. In the last five years a number of companies have produced simple electroencephalograms, priced below $300 and available direct to consumers. These have stirred the imaginations of enthusiasts and brought the prospects of "thought-controlled" devices ever closer to reality. While these new devices were largely targeted at video games and toys, active research on enabling people suffering from debilitating diseases to control wheelchairs was being pursued. A number of neurochairs have come to fruition offering a truly hands-free mobility solution, but whether …

How Theories Evolved Concerning The Mechanism Of Action Of Barbiturates, Wolfgang Löscher, Michael A. Rogawski

Michael A. Rogawski

The barbiturate phenobarbital has been in use in the treatment of epilepsy for 100 years. It has long been recognized that barbiturates act by prolonging and potentiating the action of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) on GABA-A) receptors and at higher concentrations directly activating the receptors. A large body of data supports the concept that GABA-A) receptors are the primary central nervous system target for barbiturates, including the finding that transgenic mice with a point mutation in the β3 GABA-A)-receptor subunit exhibit diminished sensitivity to the sedative and immobilizing actions of the anesthetic barbiturate pentobarbital. Although phenobarbital is only modestly less potent …

Paradoxical Results Of Adaptive False Discovery Rate Procedures In Neuroimaging Studies, Philip T. Reiss, Armin Schwartzman, Feihan Lu, Lei Huang, Erika Proal

Philip T. Reiss

Adaptive false discovery rate (FDR) procedures, which offer greater power than the original FDR procedure of Benjamini and Hochberg, are often applied to statistical maps of the brain. When a large proportion of the null hypotheses are false, as in the case of widespread effects such as cortical thinning throughout much of the brain, adaptive FDR methods can surprisingly reject more null hypotheses than not accounting for multiple testing at all—i.e., using uncorrected p-values. A straightforward mathematical argument is presented to explain why this can occur with the q-value method of Storey and colleagues, and a simulation study shows that …

Step Regulation Of Seizure Thresholds In The Hippocampus, Janice R. Naegele

Janice R Naegele

Purpose:  To investigate whether striatal enriched protein tyrosine phosphatase (STEP) influences ictogenesis. Methods:  STEP knockout mice were compared to wild-type (WT) mice in pilocarpine-induced seizures. Hippocampal slices were also prepared from these two mouse populations, allowing the examination of ictal-like stimulation in these slices using calcium imaging and electrophysiologic recordings. Key Findings:  To examine seizure thresholds, increasing doses of pilocarpine were administered to adult mice and seizures were scored behaviorally. Significantly fewer STEP knockout mice developed seizures that progressed to the stage of status epilepticus compared to WT mice. To examine potential differences in neural circuits that might account for …

Tangled Roots: Digging Deeper Into Astrocyte Or Interneuron Dysfunction In Temporal Lobe Epilepsy., Janice R. Naegele

Janice R Naegele

No abstract provided.

Brainstorm: Head Injuries And The Nfl, Part 13: End Of Regulation Play, John J. Medina Ph.D.

Brainstorm

In my last column I talked about my skepticism about the relationship between head injuries, CTE, and mental illness. I promised that in this, my last installment in the series, I would elaborate on some of the gaps that need filling. As I endeavor to fulfill that promise, I’ll also provide some perspective for future research.

Brainstorm: Head Injuries And The Nfl, Part 12: Grump Factor, John J. Medina Ph.D.

Brainstorm

I begin this entry on a sad note. While writing these last two installments in our series concerning CTE and the NFL, I found out about legendary linebacker Junior Seau’s suicide.

Targeting Astrocytes Ameliorates Neurologic Changes In A Mouse Model Of Alzheimer's Disease, Jennifer L. Furman, Diana M. Sama, John C. Gant, Tina L. Beckett, M. Paul Murphy, Adam D. Bachstetter, Linda J. Van Eldik, Christopher M. Norris

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

Astrocytes are the most abundant cell type in the brain and play a critical role in maintaining healthy nervous tissue. In Alzheimer's disease (AD) and most other neurodegenerative disorders, many astrocytes convert to a chronically "activated" phenotype characterized by morphologic and biochemical changes that appear to compromise protective properties and/or promote harmful neuroinflammatory processes. Activated astrocytes emerge early in the course of AD and become increasingly prominent as clinical and pathological symptoms progress, but few studies have tested the potential of astrocyte-targeted therapeutics in an intact animal model of AD. Here, we used adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors containing the astrocyte-specific …

Brainstorm: Head Injuries And The Nfl, Part 11: Microglial Cells, John J. Medina Ph.D.

Brainstorm

We are trying to understand the biology of CTE at the most intimate level possible, the level of cells and molecules. The last entry dealt with the tau protein and its role in mediating closed­-head neural damage. In this installment, let’s consider the role of microglial cells, a little wisp of a cell type with a great big job.

An Investigation Of The Neural Mechanism By Which The Prefrontal Cortex Facilitates Anti-Saccade Task Performance, Michael J. Koval

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Cognitive control enables us to guide our behaviour in an appropriate manner, such as rapid eye movements (saccades) toward a location or object of interest. A well-established test of cognitive control is the anti-saccade task, which instructs subjects to look away from a suddenly-appearing stimulus. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are part of a cortical saccade control network that influences the superior colliculus (SC), which sends saccade commands to the brainstem saccade generator. To compare and contrast the roles of the dlPFC and ACC in saccade control, the cryoloop method of reversible cryogenic deactivation was …

Brief Embryonic Strychnine Exposure In Zebrafish Causes Long-Term Adult Behavioral Impairment With Indications Of Embyronic Synaptic Changes, Nicole M. Roy, Brianna Arpie, Joseph Lugo, Elwood Linney, Edward D. Levin, Daniel Cerutti

Biology Faculty Publications

Zebrafish provide a powerful model of the impacts of embryonic toxicant exposure on neural development that may result in long-term behavioral dysfunction. In this study, zebrafish embryos were treated with 1.5mM strychnine for short embryonic time windows to induce transient changes in inhibitory neural signaling, and were subsequently raised in untreated water until adulthood. PCR analysis showed indications that strychnine exposure altered expression of some genes related to glycinergic, GABAergic and glutamatergic neuronal synapses during embryonic development. In adulthood, treated fish showed significant changes in swimming speed and tank diving behavior compared to controls. Taken together, these data show that …

Cross-Cultural Colour–Odour Associations, Jiana Ren, Andy Woods, Kirsten Mckenzie, Lx Ru, Carmel Levitan

Carmel Levitan

Associations between colour and odour are likely culturally specific. Exposure to a new culture’s cuisine and food customs however may alter these associations. Here we test for cultural colour–odour association differences and whether exposure to a new culture impacts upon these associations. Participants were given 14 odours and choose from a chart of 36 randomly presented colours which of 3 colours they most associated with each odorant, and which of 3 colours was least associated with each. Data collection was done on Android and Apple iPod devices using Xperiment software (see www.xperiment.mobi). In the first study, we tested equal numbers …

Cocaine-Induced Reinstatement Of A Conditioned Place Preference In Developing Rats: Involvement Of The D2 Receptor, Kimberly A. Badanich, Cheryl L. Kirstein

Psychology Faculty Publications

Reinstatement of conditioned place preferences have been used to investigate physiological mechanisms mediating drug-seeking behavior in adolescent and adult rodents; however, it is still unclear how psychostimulant exposure during adolescence affects neuron communication and whether these changes would elicit enhanced drug-seeking behavior later in adulthood. The present study determined whether the effects of intra-ventral tegmental area (VTA) or intra-nucleus accumbens septi (NAcc) dopamine (DA) D2 receptor antagonist infusions would block (or potentiate) cocaine-induced reinstatement of conditioned place preferences. Adolescent rats (postnatal day (PND 28–39)) were trained to express a cocaine place preference. The involvement of D2 receptors on cocaine-induced reinstatement …

Rod Microglia: Elongation, Alignment, And Coupling To Form Trains Across The Somatosensory Cortex After Experimental Diffuse Brain Injury, Jenna M. Ziebell, Samuel E. Taylor, Tuoxin Cao, Jordan L. Harrison, Jonathan Lifshitz

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Since their discovery, the morphology of microglia has been interpreted to mirror their function, with ramified microglia constantly surveying the micro-environment and rapidly activating when changes occur. In 1899, Franz Nissl discovered what we now recognize as a distinct microglial activation state, microglial rod cells (Stäbchenzellen), which he observed adjacent to neurons. These rod-shaped microglia are typically found in human autopsy cases of paralysis of the insane, a disease of the pre-penicillin era, and best known today from HIV-1-infected brains. Microglial rod cells have been implicated in cortical 'synaptic stripping' but their exact role has remained unclear. This is …

An Investigation Into The Combined Effects Of Β-Amyloid Toxicity And Cerebral Ischemia On The Pathological Expression Of Gangliosides., Jeffrey D. Hepburn

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Identifying mechanisms underlying the synergistic pathological interaction between stroke and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) can effectively guide future therapeutic strategies for these highly co-morbid conditions. Aberrant ganglioside expression marked by the pathological accumulation of ganglioside GM3 is common to stroke and AD, yet it is unclear whether GM3 is synergistically enhanced in a comorbid model, or if GM3 is a viable therapeutic target. Adult male Wistar rats received a unilateral ischemic striatal infarct via endothelin-1 (ET-1) injection alone or in combination with bilateral intracerebroventricular injection of the β-Amyloid 25-35 peptide (Aβ) to induce generalized Aβ toxicity (Aβ/ET-1). Animals were sacrificed after …

Brainstorm: Head Injuries And The Nfl, Part 10: The Tau Of Cte, Continued, John J. Medina Ph.D.

Brainstorm

In our last installment, I wrote about a protein called tau, which necessitated talking about salt. I said that when neurons suffer the types of injury associated with CTE, part of the damage occurs because of a change in salt distribution between the inside of a neuron and its immediate outer exterior.

Sexual Reward And Depression, Andrea R. Di Sebastiano

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Sexual behavior in male rats is a complex rewarding behavior and many neurotransmitters and neuropeptides play an important role in mediation of sexual performance, motivation and reward. The hypothalamic neuropeptide orexin has been shown play a key role in reward associated with food and drugs of abuse, but the role of this neuropeptide in control of sexual performance, motivation and reward is currently unclear. First, it was shown that orexin neurons in the hypothalamus are activated during sexual performance and reward. Next, using cell specific lesions of orexin neurons it was demonstrated that orexin is involved in arousal and anxiety, …