Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

The Pharmacology Of Gpr171 Ligands In The Treatment Of Pain: An In Vitro And In Vivo Preclinical Characterization, Max V. Mcdermott

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Opioids are addictive, ineffective for long-term treatment, readily produce withdrawal and tolerance, and can cause overdose and death. These properties have contributed to an epidemic of addiction and overdose, which continues unabated in the United States. Therefore, new drugs to treat acute and chronic pain are needed. Opioids bind to receptors belonging to a superfamily of proteins called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs are the most commonly targeted proteins among FDA-approved drugs. As such, under-researched GPCRs are a viable source of new targets in the field of drug development. One such underexplored GPCR is GPR171. Studies have demonstrated that a …

The Role Of Androgen Receptor And B2/Alu Sine Rna Interaction In Hippocampal Dendritic Development, Troy A. Richter

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Once dismissed as “junk”, transposable elements have recently gained recognition for their regulatory roles, especially in the brain. During development, circulating androgens promote proper morphological development of hippocampal neurons. We and others have shown that murine B2 SINE RNA is a regulator in the rodent hippocampus. It is unknown, however, if B2 is necessary for the proper development of hippocampal neurons. This dissertation investigates the role of murine B2 in the development of primary hippocampal neurons in combination with androgen treatment. We first examined the role of ALU SINE and androgen receptor in a prostate cancer cell model and found …

Self-Initiated Action Rescues Visual Targets From Backwards Masking, Amber R. Hopkins, Tian Lan, Aaron Schurger

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

When a visual target is followed by a visual mask stimulus, the target sometimes goes unseen. This is visual masking. In an experiment treating a masked visual stimulus as the sensory outcome of self-initiated action, we demonstrate that self-initiated action can rescue visual targets from backwards masks. Specifically, participants were correct about a visual target more often when the target-mask sequence appeared after their self-initiated action than when its onset was triggered externally. While self-initiated action sometimes induces sensory attenuation, whereby the perception of sensory events that follow actions is dampened, we observed that self-initiated action promotes the perception of …

Executive Dysfunction In College Aged Students With And Without Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Emily A. Veasey, Tyler Herring

Neuroscience Summer Fellows

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive tool used to measure cortical hemodynamics and has growing applications in studying executive functioning after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). In this study, fNIRS was used to examine prefrontal cortex activation in individuals with a history of concussion during the Iowa Gambling Task, which is used to measure decision making under uncertainty and risk. This task assesses key executive functions such as decision-making, inhibition, and planning. This study aimed to find a correlation between college-aged students with mTBIs and frontal lobe dysfunction. We are going to see that students with more concussions, a …

Investigating The Capacity Of Tdp-43 Low Complexity Domain To Target Protein Aggregates In Yeast, Nicholas J. Grahame

Biology Summer Fellows

Utilizing protein TDP-43 and fluorescent proteins to:

Investigate TDP-43’s LCD region in protein aggregates. Use fluorescent protein tagging to visualize co-localization and aggregation. Leverage yeast as a model system for studying LLPS and aggregation.

Can we target chaperone proteins to TDP-43 LCD region?

Role And Electrophysiological Properties Of Sexually Dimorphic Oxytocin Receptor Expressing Neurons In The Anteroventral Periventricular Nucleus Of The Female Mice, Armita Abdollahi Govar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Oxytocin is a neurohypophyseal hormone that plays a crucial role in regulating mother-infant bonding and maternal behavior. Oxytocin modulates sex-specific parental behaviors by binding to the oxytocin receptor (OXTR)-expressing neurons in the brain. This study investigates the sexually dimorphic OXTR neurons in the anteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPV) to understand how oxytocin modulates behavior in females. Specifically, we explored the behavioral roles, neural projections, and intrinsic electrophysiological characteristics of these neurons in the female mice. Using immunohistochemistry revealed that the number of OXTR-expressing neurons was enhanced in postpartum females compared with virgin females, suggesting that these neurons are involved in female-specific …

The Cortical Motor Map For The Extensor Digitorum Communis Muscle Fails To Increase In Treatment-Related Clinically Significant Upper Limb Post-Stroke Recovery, Tomoko Kitago, Joshua Silverstein, Michael B. Gerber, Charlene Thomas, Linda M. Gerber, Gary W. Thickbroom, Dylan J. Edwards

Moss-Magee Rehabilitation Papers

Objectives: Cortical reorganization has been proposed as a mechanism for motor recovery of the upper limb. The objective of this study was to determine if intervention-related clinical improvement in post-stroke hemiparesis is associated with enlarged motor cortex representation. Methods: Data were analyzed from a single site subset of the NICHE trial. Clinical assessments of upper limb movement (Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity Motor Assessment, FM-UE, Action Research Arm Test, ARAT, and Wolf Motor Function Test, WMFT) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) motor mapping of the extensor digitorum communis (EDC) muscle were performed in 23 participants (3–12 months post-stroke, 10 female, 40–88 yrs) …

Low Premorbid Iq May Exacerbate The Cognitive Effects Of Apolipoprotein Ε4 (Apoe Ε4): A Multi-Ethnic Cross-Sectional Study From Habs-Hd, Lubnaa B. Abdullah, Zhengyang Zhou, Ney Alex Alliey, Robert Barber, James Hall, Sid O’Bryant

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Introduction: Apolipoprotein allele 4 (APOE ε4) is associated with lower IQ scores during childhood and adolescence, but the influence of APOE ε4 and low IQ on late-life cognition is unknown. This study examines the association between APOE ε4 and cognitive outcomes based on premorbid intellectual ability (pIQ) and ethnic background.

Methods: Participants were drawn from the Health & Aging Brain Study–Health Disparities (HABS-HD), categorized by low (z ≤ −2.00) or average (z = 0.00 ± 1.00) pIQ based on word reading scores. Statistical analyses were conducted to evaluate whether APOE ε4 was associated with the cognitive domains of …

Sex-Specific Effects Of Early-Life Unpredictability On Hippocampal And Amygdala Responses To Novelty In Adolescents, Elysia Poggi Davis, Bianca T. Leonard, Robert J. Jirsaraie, David B. Keator, Steven L. Small, Curt A. Sandman, Victoria B. Risbrough, Hal S. Stern, Laura M. Glynn, Michael A. Yassa, Tallie Z. Baram, Jerod M. Rasmussen

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Unpredictable childhood experiences are an understudied form of early-life adversity that impact neurodevelopment. The neurobiological processes by which exposure to early-life unpredictability impact development and vulnerability to psychopathology remain poorly understood. In the current study, we investigated the sex-specific consequences of early-life unpredictability on the limbic network, focusing on the hippocampus and the amygdala.

Methods

Participants included 150 youths (54% female). Early-life unpredictability was assessed using the Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood (QUIC). Participants engaged in 1 or more task–functional magnetic resonance imaging scans between the ages of 8 and 17 (223 total observations) measuring blood oxygen level–dependent (BOLD) …

Alpha-Synuclein Null Mutation Exacerbates The Phenotype Of A Model Of Menkes Disease In Female Mice, Meganne Casey, Dan Zou, Renee Reijo Pera Phd, Tiffany Hensley-Mcbain, Deborah E. Cabin

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (Great Falls) Publications and Research

Human SNCA, which encodes a-synuclein protein (SNCA), was the first gene linked to familial Parkinson's disease (PD). Since the discovery of the genetic link of SNCA to Parkinson's nearly three decades ago, many studies have investigated the normal function of SNCA protein. However, understanding of the normal function of SNCA is complicated by the lack of a reliable mammalian model of PD; indeed, mice with homozygous null mutations in the Snca gene live a normal lifespan and have only subtle synaptic deficits. Here, we report the first genetic modifier (a sensitized mutation) of a murine Snca null …

Learn, Sleep, Remember, Repeat, Charlie Martinez, Christian Fink

Physics Student Scholarship

My research focused on using computational methods to study the effect of sleep on memory. There are many simplifications that we used to break down this hefty question, but two are essential to understand: (1) we modeled a simple network (connection diagram included in poster) that comprised of only about 800 neurons (for reference the human brain contains about 80 billion neurons) and represented the connection between two brain regions the thalamus and the cortex, and (2) we modeled memory as a simple learning rule that strengthened connections between neurons that fired in sequence and weakened connections that pointed in …

Investigating The Role Of Msbdnf – Trkb Signaling In The Maintenance Of Mitochondrial Populations Through The Bnip3 Mitophagy Pathway, Jack A. Horton

All NMU Master's Theses

Maintenance of mitochondrial transport and clearance at the pre- and post-synaptic terminal is an essential function of neuromuscular junctions to meet their high energy demands. Damaged or dysfunctional mitochondria can put stress on these synaptic junctions, ultimately leading to the degradation of the synapse and subsequent cell death. Dysfunctional mitochondria are also often present in neuromuscular diseases such as ALS. One possible mechanism by which neurons may eliminate dysfunctional mitochondria is through the muscle-synthesized BDNF (msBDNF) /TrkB-mediated Bcl-2 nineteen-kD interacting protein (BNIP3) mitophagy pathway, although the relationship is not well-defined. BNIP3 localizes to the mitochondria and triggers a loss of …

Classification Of Human Trust In Ai Using Brain Activity Data, Danushka Bandara, Ruhuan Liao, Fatima Chowdhury, Leslie Abbott

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

Trust plays a crucial role in human-computer interaction, particularly in scenarios involving artificial intelligence (AI) systems. This study explores the feasibility of using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data to classify trust levels in human-AI interaction scenarios. A total of 18 participants completed an image classification task with an AI team member while their hemodynamic responses were recorded using fNIRS. Preprocessing of fNIRS data involved motion artifact removal, filtering, and normalization. Exploratory analysis identified significant associations between hemodynamic responses in the prefrontal cortex and trust levels. An across-subject binary trust classification model was developed using machine learning techniques, achieving an F1 …

Coarse-Graining Spiking Reservoirs: Reducing Reservoir Size While Preserving Critical Dynamics, Tucker X. Mastin, Christof Teuscher

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

We propose an extension of renormalization into the domain of spiking neural networks, thereby providing a novel framework for coarse-graining neural networks without disrupting their critical properties. The proposed coarse-graining technique merges neurons and synaptic connections based on a graph-theoretic distance derived from synaptic weight strength and is configured to effectively prune the reservoir size while preserving the scale-free spiking dynamics indicative of criticality. Criticality in spiking neural networks may provide information-theoretic advantages by optimizing information processing and sensitivity to input. Using time-series prediction benchmarks, we demonstrate that networks operating at criticality exhibit up to 32% higher prediction accuracy before …

Establishing A Novel Neurofunctional Pre-Season Baseline For Sports-Related Concussion In Men And Women Collegiate Athletics, Jonathan C. Vincent, Jon G. Divine Md Ms, Aaron Kuehn-Himmler At Ms, Robert E. Mangine Pt Med Atc, Jim K. Ellis Od, Frederick R. Carrick Dc, Phd, Ms-Hped, Kimberly A. Hasselfeld, Blake M. Bacevich, Daniel Fosselman Do Mba, Joseph F. Clark Phd, Atc

Journal for Sports Neuroscience

Objective: To develop and validate a multi-domain neurofunctional baseline incorporating ocular, vestibular, proprioceptive, and cognitive assessments for collegiate athletes, thereby providing a more comprehensive approach to detecting and managing sports-related concussions.

Design: Retrospective chart review of pre-season baseline data.

Setting: Collegiate athletic training facility.

Participants: A total of 194 Division I collegiate athletes aged 18–24 years, stratified by sport, sex, and self-reported concussion history.

Interventions: A comprehensive battery of clinical and instrument-based neurological assessments, including Dynavision D2 tests (visual-motor coordination and reaction time), stereopsis, convergence, proprioception, peripheral vision, and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurements.

Main Outcome Measures: Normative …

Gardenia Jasminoides Extract As A Potential Neuroprotective Agent In An In Vitro Tauopathy Model, Inas Birekdar

Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder marked by the selective loss of neurons in various brain regions, leading to cognitive dysfunction. Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), composed of hyperphosphorylated tau protein accumulate within neuronal cells leading to cell death. The development of effective treatments for neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) remains a significant challenge, with neuroprotection emerging as a promising therapeutic strategy to slow disease progression and preserve cognitive function.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the potential neuroprotective effect of Gardenia jasminoides fruit extract, which contains geniposide, a biologically active compound known for its neuroprotective properties, in mitigating Tau hyperphosphorylation in …

Electro Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (Etms) Effects On Pharmacoresistent Sleep Disorders Using A Quantitative Electroencephalogram (Qeeg), Sarah Diane Dean

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The following quantitative correlational study investigated the effects of eTMS on individuals with pharmacoresistant sleep disorders using a qEEG. This research measures the dimensions of anxiety, depression and quality of life (QoL) as it relates to untreated secondary diagnosis. Additionally, this research examines the activity level of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in relation to eTMS treatments. It was found that correlation with anxiety (rs = -.466, p < .001), depression (rs = -0.556, p < 0.001), quality of life (rs = -.436, p < .001), and sleep disturbances (rs = -0.452, p < 0.001), have a statistically significant negative correlation with dlPFC activity level. Finally, it was found that eTMS does have a statistically significant relationship with sleep disturbances as well as anxiety, depression and general quality of life (U (195) = 4647, p = .971). This is important to the field of neuroscience as it provided a more precise form of individualized neuromodulation through the use of a uncommon type of transcranial magnetic stimulation.

The Role Of Neuroscience In Mental Health Management Within The Adhd Population, Kadi Rae Smith

University Honors Theses

Neuroscience-based educational interventions play a role in the management of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), including the regulation of ADHD-correlated depression and anxiety. Existing research shows that elevated rates of depression correspond to anxiety within the ADHD community; approximately 8.83% of the global population. Social ostracization and isolation are established contributors to depression and anxiety which are commonly comorbid with ADHD. The need exists for further investigation of the beneficial impact that an accurate, biological understanding of how the brain works has on the mental health of the ADHD population, and by extension their families, education systems, and medical industries. …

Analysis Of Synaptotagmin Isoforms In Lßt2 Gonadotrophs, Caitlin Vahl

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

The anterior pituitary is comprised of five cell types which secrete regulatory hormones into the bloodstream. Specifically, gonadotrophs synthesize and release sex hormones follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) in response to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). GnRH signals from the hypothalamus regulate the differential secretion of LH and FSH from the anterior pituitary. Exocytosis of FSH and LH from dense core vesicles (DCVs) occurs in response to an intracellular calcium signal, sensed by the synaptotagmins proteins. Various isoforms of synaptotagmins exist and each isoform has varying affinity for calcium, causing calcium-regulated exocytosis to be finely controlled. Because LH and FSH …

Neural Oscillations Enable Concurrent Visual Perception And Visual Working Memory Processing, Khayla Santiago

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Successful goal-directed behavior requires balancing task-relevant information stored in working memory and the continuous processing of incoming sensory input, yet the neural mechanisms underlying this coordination remain unclear. This study examines how neural oscillations support concurrent visual perception and visual working memory. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we recorded brain activity while participants performed a dual task paradigm requiring them to simultaneously maintain one orientation in their memory while monitoring another orientation on the screen. After variable time intervals (50 different SOAs between 500-1500ms), participants compared a probe against either the memorized or visually monitored orientation. Analysis of response times and accuracy …

Hormonal Modulation Of Perineuronal Net Density In The Female Peromyscus Californicus Hippocampus And Medial Prefrontal Cortex, Nazlee Harunani

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Perineuronal nets (PNNs) are specialized extracellular matrix structures that regulate synaptic plasticity and stabilize neural circuits, particularly during the closure of critical periods, a time when the brain is highly plastic and susceptible to environmental influence. Emerging evidence suggests that PNNs may be sensitive to hormonal fluctuations associated with critical periods such as puberty and pregnancy, yet their role in the female brain, particularly in relation to other well-characterized hormonally-mediated events, remains underexplored. This project investigated whether PNN expression in the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex varied following vaginal opening, or across different stages of the estrous cycle in Peromyscus …

Proceedings From The Sixth Annual Society For Sports Neuroscience Conference, Neurosports Editorial Staff

Journal for Sports Neuroscience

Proceedings from the Sixth Annual Society for Sports Neuroscience Conference

Art, Play, And Neuroplasticity: Advancing Dementia Care Through Art-Enriched Environments, Piper Hutson, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

Dementia represents a global public health crisis, characterized not only by progressive memory loss but by a pervasive decline in cognitive flexibility, social functioning, and overall quality of life. Traditional therapeutic modalities, often limited to pharmacological management and cognitive training, have yielded only modest gains in symptom mitigation and patient well-being. Recent advances in neuroscience have illuminated the brain‘s capacity for neuroplasticity—its inherent ability to adapt, reorganize, and form new neural connections even in advanced age and the presence of neurodegenerative conditions. This emerging understanding invites a critical re-evaluation of dementia care strategies, highlighting the potential of non-pharmacological interventions to …

The Role Of Socioeconomic Status In Shaping Associations Between Sensory Association Cortex And Prefrontal Structure And Implications For Executive Function, Maya L. Rosen, Divyangana Rakesh, Rachel R. Romeo

Neuroscience: Faculty Publications

Socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with widespread differences in structure of temporal, parietal, occipital, and frontal cortices. Development of sensory processing regions—in particular visual association cortex (VAC) and auditory association cortex (AAC)—may scaffold development of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Experiences that correlate with SES like cognitive stimulation and language may influence VAC and AAC development, in turn allowing the PFC to resolve conflicts between similar stimuli. SES-related differences in these regions may partly explain differences in executive function (EF) skills. Here, we use structural equation modeling of longitudinal data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study to test the …

Tailoring Evaluations Of Chronic Rhinosinusitis: Understanding Sleep And Its Effect On Memory Through Actigraphy, Donyea Moore, Rachel Nolte, Yitong Pepper Huang, Shreya Maharana, Pavan Nataraj, Bichun Ouyang, Mahboobeh Mahdavinia

Mathematics Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background/Objectives: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a persistent inflammatory condition of the sinonasal mucosa lasting for at least three months. For patients, CRS-related sleep disturbances can significantly disrupt circadian rhythms, leading to further health complications such as cognitive impairment. Despite the well-documented sleep disturbances associated with CRS, there is limited research on objective assessment methods. Additionally, the severity of these issues can vary among patients. This study aims to assess sleep quality and timing in CRS patients and investigate their impact on cognition, providing guidance for personalized and tailored assessment and management of CRS. Methods: Our case–control study compares sleep patterns …

Topodino: Self-Supervised Topological Representation Learning For Neuronal Morphologies, Yasser Binbisher

Master's Theses

Neuronal cell types are categorized by transcriptomic identity, yet their morphological heterogeneity defies this classification. In response, researchers have adopted unsupervised graph representation learning as a tool to reveal morphological variation within single-class transcriptomic types. However, the complex geometry of neuronal morphology—especially long axons and dense dendrites—challenges graph neural networks, which struggle with message propagation across extended structures. To mitigate this, current approaches enforce sub-sampling on neuronal graphs and omit axons entirely, sacrificing critical biological features for computational efficiency. To overcome this trade-off, this thesis introduces TopoDINO, a self-supervised, topology-aware representation learning model designed to preserve the full hierarchical organization …

Parvalbumin Interneuron-Oligodendrocyte Interactions In The Infralimbic Cortex Promote Extracellular Plasticity Mechanisms After Safety Learning, Lucy Emma Denholtz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The ability to differentiate between threat and safety cues is essential for adaptive behavior, yet this process is disrupted in psychiatric disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), where safety cues fail to downregulate fear expression. To better understand the neurobiological mechanisms of safety learning, I investigate how safety conditioning vs contextual fear conditioning modify behavioral and cellular mechanisms in the infralimbic (IL) region of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) at several time points after learning. Through this work, I identify a novel mechanism whereby safety learning promotes learning dependent neuro-glial interactions that promote conditions for plasticity in the mPFC. …

The Sub-Syllabic Symphonies Of Self-Learning: How Do Zebra Finches Sing Them?, Abiesha Abiola Budiman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Learning is a lifelong journey, where the mind and muscle dance to a tune of memory and motion. It begins at infancy and continues throughout life, encompassing everything from singing to achieving peak performance in sports. Complex motor skills involve multiple components and require coordination of several muscles. Humans and animals are extremely adept at learning complex motor skills on their own. However, we do not completely understand how self-directed learning works. One group of animals used to observe self-directed learning are songbirds. Zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, are one of the most studied songbird species due to their well-defined …

Environmental Enrichment Reduces Cue-Induced Reinstatement Of Heroin-Seeking Following Prolonged Use And Reverses Region-Specific Heroin-Induced Neuroadaptations, Apoorva Vashisht

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Relapse remains the greatest barrier to long-term recovery and the consequential rising overdose-related mortality in heroin use disorder (HUD). Currently available behavioral and pharmacological interventions fail to extend their benefits beyond the duration of the treatment. Additionally, opioid agonist-based medications accompany harmful neurobiological risks and propensity to promote further drug-seeking post-treatment. We have shown that environmental enrichment (EE), as a therapeutic strategy applied after drug intravenous-self administration (IVSA), can effectively facilitate abstinence and reduce reinstatement of drug-seeking in animal models of drug abuse. Moreover, dopamine receptors like D1 and D3, and mu-opioid (MO) receptors are well known for their …

Neural Mechanisms Of Context-Sensitive Behavior In The Adult Male Zebra Finch, Katherine L. Anderson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Adapting behaviors to the perceived external environment is key to the success and survival of individuals in social species. This context-sensitive modulation of behavior is critical for informative interactions with conspecifics, like alerting a neighbor to a nearing predator or capturing the attention of a potential mate. For the adult male zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), a vocal-learning songbird, context-sensitive adaptions to a learned song are key for developing and maintaining pair-bonds with females who are extremely attentive to subtle modulations of song structure. In this thesis, I explore the hypothesis that the influence of a social behavior network …