Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

Strokes Of Existence: The Connection Of All Things, Mari Gorman

Graduate Student Publications and Research

Acted or real—and all life is real whether one is acting or not—the common denominator and consistent, ubiquitous reality of life and all behavior is that it manifests in the form of relationships on all scales. But what is a relationship? Until now, the answer to this question has not been sufficiently known. As a result of many years of empirical research that began with the aim of discovering what is going on in a gifted actor when s/he is playing a character that can be observed and experienced as a living, intuitive being, and based on the knowledge that …

Effects Of Insular Cortex Lesions On Conditioned Taste Aversion And Latent Inhibition In The Rat, Christopher T. Roman, Steve Reilly

Scholarship and Professional Work – COPHS

The present study tested the hypothesis that lesions of the insular cortex of the rat retard the acquisition of conditioned taste aversions (CTAs) because of an impairment in the detection of the novelty of taste stimuli. Demonstrating the expected latent inhibition effect, nonlesioned control subjects acquired CTAs more rapidly when the conditioned stimulus (0.15% sodium saccharin) was novel rather than familiar (achieved by pre-exposure to the to-be-conditioned taste cue). However, rats with insular cortex lesions acquired taste aversions at the same slow rate regardless of whether the saccharin was novel or familiar. The pattern of behavioural deficits obtained cannot be …

Crf–Crf1 System Activation Mediates Withdrawal-Induced Increases In Nicotine Self-Administration In Nicotine-Dependent Rats., Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Adolescent Nicotine Exposure Produces Less Affective Measures Of Withdrawal Relative To Adult Nicotine Exposure In Male Rats, Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Viral Vector-Induced Amygdala Npy Overexpression Reverses Increased Alcohol Intake Caused By Repeated Deprivations In Wistar Rats, Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Bad Nature, Bad Nurture, And Testimony Regarding Maoa And Slc6a4 Genotyping In Murder Trials, Nita A. Farahany, William Bernet, Cindy L. Vnencak-Jones, Stephen A. Montgomery

Faculty Scholarship

Recent research—in which subjects were studied longitudinally from childhood until adulthood—has started to clarify how a child’s environment and genetic makeup interact to create a violent adolescent or adult. For example, male subjects who were born with a particular allele of the monoamine oxidase A gene and also were maltreated as children had a much greater likelihood of manifesting violent antisocial behavior as adolescents and adults. Also, individuals who were born with particular alleles of the serotonin transporter gene and also experienced multiple stressful life events were more likely to manifest serious depression and suicidality. This research raises the question …

“Nicotine Deprivation Effect” In Rats With Intermittent 23-Hour Access To Intravenous Nicotine Self-Administration, Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Sex Differences In The Onset Of Seasonal Reproductive Quiescence In Hamsters, Annaliese K. Beery, Justin J. Trumbull, Jyeming M. Tsao, Ruth M. Costantini, Irving Zucker

Neuroscience: Faculty Publications

Day length is the primary cue used by many mammals to restrict reproduction to favourable spring and summer months, but it is unknown for any mammal whether the seasonal loss of fertility begins at the same time and occurs at the same rate in females and males; nor it established whether the termination of mating behaviour in males and females coincides with the loss of fertility. We speculated that females, owing to their greater energetic investment in reproduction, are the limiting sex in terminating offspring production in short days (SDs). Oestrous cycles and production of young were monitored in Syrian …

The Role Of Bdnf Within The Medial Prefrontal Cortex On Relapse To Cocaine-Seeking Behavior, William J. Berglind

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Glutamatergic pyramidal cells arising from the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are critical mediators of reinstatement to cocaine-seeking. A potent modulator of PFC activity is brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a molecule that has been implicated in the regulation of glutamatergic neurotransmission. In this study, the role of BDNF in the PFC was investigated in an animal model of cocaine addiction. First, a cocaine-induced decrease in BDNF mRNA within the PFC was documented following 22 h of abstinence, followed by an increase in BDNF protein expression within the PFC following 21 d of extinction training. Second, an intra-PFC infusion of BDNF attenuated …

Role Of Calcium And Nitric Oxide Synthase (Nos) In Brain Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Vidya Nag Nukala

Theses and Dissertations--Neuroscience

Mitochondria are essential for promoting cell survival and growth through aerobic metabolism and energy production. Mitochondrial function is typically analyzed using mitochondria freshly isolated from tissues and cells because they yield tightly coupled mitochondria, whereas those from frozen tissue can consist of broken mitochondria and membrane fragments. A method, utilizing a well-characterized cryoprotectant such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), is described. Such mitochondria show preserved structure and function that presents us with a possible strategy to considerably expand the time-frame and the range of biochemical, molecular and metabolic studies that can be performed without the constraints of mitochondrial longevity ex vivo …

Functional Properties Of L-Glutamate Regulation In Anesthetized And Freely Moving Mice, Kevin N. Hascup

Theses and Dissertations--Neuroscience

L-glutamate (Glu) is the predominant excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system with involvement encompassing learning and memory, cognition, plasticity, and motor movement. Dysregulation of the glutamatergic system is implicated in several neurological disorders including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The mechanisms underlying these neurological disorders are not clear, but evidence suggests that abnormal Glu neurotransmission plays a role. Elevated levels of Glu in the synaptic cleft overstimulate the N-methyl-Daspartate receptor leading to excitotoxicity, which causes neuronal loss in chronic neurological diseases. What is less understood is the source for the elevated Glu levels. …

The Role Of Macrophages In Olfactory Neurogenesis, Aaron S. Borders

Theses and Dissertations--Physiology

Olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) undergo continual degeneration and replacement throughout life, a cycle that can be synchronized experimentally by performing olfactory bulbectomy (OBX). OBX induces apoptosis of mature OSNs, which is followed by an increase in the proliferation of progenitor basal cells. Macrophages, functionally diverse immune effector cells, phagocytose the apoptotic OSNs and regulate the proliferation of basal cells. This provides an advantageous environment to study how macrophages regulate neuronal death, proliferation, and replacement.

The purpose of this dissertation was to identify the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which macrophages regulate the degeneration/proliferation cycle of OSNs. Macrophages were selectively depleted …

Functional Neuroimaging And The Law: Trends And Directions For Future Scholarship, Stacey A. Tovino

Faculty Articles

Under the umbrella of the burgeoning neurotransdisciplines, scholars are using the principles and research methodologies of their primary and secondary fields to examine developments in neuroimaging, neuromodulation, and psychopharmacology. The path for advanced scholarship at the intersection of law and neuroscience may clear if work across the disciplines is collected and reviewed and outstanding and debated issues are identified and clarified. In this article, I organize, examine and refine a narrow class of burgeoning neurotransdiscipline scholarship; that is, scholarship at the interface of law and functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Optimization Of Biomathematical Model Predictions For Cognitive Performance Impairment In Individuals: Accounting For Unknown Traits And Uncertain States In Homeostatic And Circadian Processes, Hans P. A. Van Dongen, Christopher G. Mott, Jen-Kuang Huang, Daniel J. Mollicone, Frederic D. Mckenzie, David F. Dinges

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Current biomathematical models of fatigue and performance do not accurately predict cognitive performance for individuals with a priori unknown degrees of trait vulnerability to sleep loss, do not predict performance reliably when initial conditions are uncertain, and do not yield statistically valid estimates of prediction accuracy, These limitations diminish their usefulness for predicting the performance of individuals in operational environments. To overcome these 3 limitations, a novel modeling approach was developed, based on the expansion of a statistical technique called Bayesian forecasting. The expanded Bayesian forecasting procedure was implemented in the two-process model of sleep regulation, which has been used …

Confidence Intervals For Individualized Performance Models, Hans P. A. Van Dongen, Christopher G. Mott, Jen-Kuang Huang, Daniel J. Millicone, Frederic D. Mckenzie, David F. Dinges

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Commentary on Reifman J; Rajaraman S; Gribok AV. Moving Towards Individualized Performance Models. Sleep 2007;30(9):1081-82.

Law, Responsibility, And The Brain, Owen D. Jones, Hakwan C. Lau, Dean Mobbs, Christopher D. Frith

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article addresses new developments in neuroscience, and their implications for law. It explores, for example, the relationships between brain injury and violence, as well as the connections between mental disorders and criminal behaviors. It discusses a variety of issues surrounding brain fingerprinting, the use of brain scans for lie detection, and concerns about free will. It considers the possible uses for, and legal implications of, brain-imaging technology. And it also identifies six essential limits on the use of brain imaging in courtroom procedures.

Law, Responsibility, And The Brain, Owen D. Jones, Dean Mobbs, Hakwan C. Lau, Christopher D. Frith

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article addresses new developments in neuroscience, and their implications for law. It explores, for example, the relationships between brain injury and violence, as well as the connections between mental disorders and criminal behaviors. It discusses a variety of issues surrounding brain fingerprinting, the use of brain scans for lie detection, and concerns about free will. It considers the possible uses for, and legal implications of, brain-imaging technology. And it also identifies six essential limits on the use of brain imaging in courtroom procedures.

Neuroimaging, Entrapment, And The Predisposition To Crime, O. Carter Snead

Journal Articles

Professor Tovino's (2007) paper is a welcome contribution to the emerging body of scholarship on the issues arising at the nexus of cognitive neuroscience (and neuroimaging in particular) and the law. It is a useful overview of the various ways in which neuroimaging might affect a wide array of legal questions. Though many of the issues that Tovino discusses are at present quite speculative (as she acknowledges), it is always wise to take advantage of the rare opportunity to reflect on the legal, ethical, and public policy implications of developments in biotechnology before they are upon us. In that spirit, …