Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

Retrosplenial Cortex And Long-Term Memory: Molecules To Behavior, Travis P. Todd, David J. Bucci

Dartmouth Scholarship

The retrosplenial cortex (RSC) is reciprocally connected with the hippocampus and various parahippocampal cortical regions, suggesting that RSC is well-positioned to contribute to hippocampal-dependent memory. Consistent with this, substantial behavioral evidence indicates that RSC is essential for consolidating and/or retrieving contextual and spatial memories. In addition, there is growing evidence that RSC neurons undergo activity-dependent plastic changes during memory formation and retrieval. In this paper we review both the behavioral and cellular/molecular data and posit that the RSC has a particularly important role in the storage and retrieval of spatial and contextual memories perhaps due its involvement in binding together …

Prevalence Of Learned Grapheme-Color Pairings In A Large Online Sample Of Synesthetes, Nathan Withhoft, Jonathan Winawer, David M. Eagleman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In this paper we estimate the minimum prevalence of grapheme-color synesthetes with letter-color matches learned from an external stimulus, by analyzing a large sample of English-speaking grapheme-color synesthetes. We find that at least 6% (400/6588 participants) of the total sample learned many of their matches from a widely available colored letter toy. Among those born in the decade after the toy began to be manufactured, the proportion of synesthetes with learned letter-color pairings approaches 15% for some 5-year periods. Among those born 5 years or more before it was manufactured, none have colors learned from the toy. Analysis of the …

Brain Blast 2015 Speakers Poster, Annie Leslie

Brain Blast

Poster from UNE's Brain Blast 2015 listing the expected presenters at this event.*

Corticospinal And Reciprocal Inhibition Actions On Human Soleus Motoneuron Activity During Standing And Walking, Berthe Hanna-Boutros, Sina Sangari, Louis-Solal Giboin, Mohamed-Mounir El Mendili, Alexandra Lackmy-Vallée, Véronique Marchand-Pauvert, Maria Knikou

Publications and Research

Reciprocal Ia inhibition constitutes a key segmental neuronal pathway for coordination of antagonist muscles. In this study, we investigated the soleus H-reflex and reciprocal inhibition exerted from flexor group Ia afferents on soleus motoneurons during standing and walking in 15 healthy subjects following transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The effects of separate TMS or deep peroneal nerve (DPN) stimulation and the effects of combined (TMS + DPN) stimuli on the soleus H-reflex were assessed during standing and at mid- and late stance phases of walking. Subthreshold TMS induced short-latency facilitation on the soleus H-reflex that was present during standing and at …

The Association Of Cognitive Endophenotypes And Risky Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Of Alzheimer's Disease Within The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (Adni) Database, Kyle Joseph Jennette

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) previously associated with Alzheimer's disease on specific domains of cognition, when controlling for Apolipoprotein E gene (APOE), in a sample of individuals with Alzheimer's disease. Methods: The data were drawn from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database, a comprehensive, longitudinal database of controls, persons with mild cognitive impairment, and persons with mild Alzheimer's disease. Each subject has a full neuropsychological assessment, neuroimaging, genetic sequencing, and physical evaluation. For the purposes of this study, individuals were selected based on the presence of the three …

Belief About Nicotine Selectively Modulates Value And Reward Prediction Error Signals In Smokers, Xiaosi Gu, Terry Lohrenz, Ramiro Salas, Philip R. Baldwin, Alireza Soltani

Dartmouth Scholarship

Little is known about how prior beliefs impact biophysically described processes in the presence of neuroactive drugs, which presents a profound challenge to the understanding of the mechanisms and treatments of addiction. We engineered smokers' prior beliefs about the presence of nicotine in a cigarette smoked before a functional magnetic resonance imaging session where subjects carried out a sequential choice task. Using a model-based approach, we show that smokers' beliefs about nicotine specifically modulated learning signals (value and reward prediction error) defined by a computational model of mesolimbic dopamine systems. Belief of "no nicotine in cigarette" (compared with "nicotine in …

Modeling Neurovascular Coupling From Clustered Parameter Sets For Multimodal Eeg-Nirs, M. Tanveer Talukdar, H. Robert Frost, Solomon G. G. Diamond

Dartmouth Scholarship

Despite significant improvements in neuroimaging technologies and analysis methods, the fundamental relationship between local changes in cerebral hemodynamics and the underlying neural activity remains largely unknown. In this study, a data driven approach is proposed for modeling this neurovascular coupling relationship from simultaneously acquired electroencephalographic (EEG) and near-infrared spectroscopic (NIRS) data. The approach uses gamma transfer functions to map EEG spectral envelopes that reflect time-varying power variations in neural rhythms to hemodynamics measured with NIRS during median nerve stimulation. The approach is evaluated first with simulated EEG-NIRS data and then by applying the method to experimental EEG-NIRS data measured from …

The Neurophysiology Of Intersensory Selective Attention And Task Switching, Jeremy W. Murphy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Our ability to selectively attend to certain aspects of the world and ignore others is fundamental to our day-to-day lives. The need for selective attention stems from capacity limitations inherent in our perceptual and cognitive processing architecture. Because not every elemental piece of our environment can be fully processed in parallel, the nervous system must prioritize processing. This prioritization is generally referred to as selective attention. Meanwhile, we are faced with a world that is constantly in flux, such that we have to frequently shift our attention from one piece of the environment to another and from one task to …

Tonic And Phasic Inhibitory Mechanisms Mediating Sensorimotor Decision-Making In The Goldfish Auditory Startle Circuit, Paul C.P. Curtin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This work describes related studies of cellular and synaptic signaling mechanisms involved in the balance of excitation and inhibition in the goldfish auditory startle circuit. The general purpose of these experiments was to identify novel mechanisms that contribute to action selection at different stages of the motor control hierarchy. The methods applied to achieve this goal tested the effects of selective antagonists for target receptor systems on sound-evoked excitation and inhibition of startle.

Chapter 2 describes a study of a poorly-understood serotonergic mechanism, the 5-HT_5A receptor, that was not previously functionally characterized in native tissues or associated with neural …

Neural Mechanisms Underlying The Perception Of Three-Dimensional Shape From Texture: Adaptation And Aftereffects, Carole Filangieri

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Input into the visual system is two-dimensional (2D) and yet we effortlessly perceive the world around us as three-dimensional (3D). How we are able to accurately extract 3D shape information from the 2D representations that fall on the retina remains largely unknown. Although much research has been conducted that investigates higher levels of form processing (i.e. face recognition), less is known about the mechanisms that underlie the perception of simple 3D shape. Previous studies in our lab have shown that our ability to perceive 3D shape from texture cues relies on the visibility of orientation flows -- patterns that run …

Physiological And Subjective Aspects Of Positive Mood In Relation To Executive Functioning: The Potential Moderating Role Of Personality, Luz Helena Ospina

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Positive affect has been demonstrated to improve aspects of cognition. However, recent studies reveal that positive affect may hinder the same cognitive processes, such as executive functioning, memory and creativity. These discrepant findings may be due to differing levels of physiological arousal, a component of the circumplex model of affect, which has been largely ignored in affective research. For example, one recent study suggests that positive valence coupled with varying levels of physiological arousal (i.e., low, moderate, and high) may differentially affect performance on tasks of verbal fluency and memory. Furthermore, one other explanation for these inconsistent findings may relate …

Designer Receptors Enhance Memory In A Mouse Model Of Down Syndrome, Ashley M. Fortress, Eric D. Hamlett, Elena M. Vazey, Gary Aston-Jones, Wayne A. Cass, Heather A. Boger, Ann-Charlotte E. Granholm

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

Designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) are novel and powerful tools to investigate discrete neuronal populations in the brain. We have used DREADDs to stimulate degenerating neurons in a Down syndrome (DS) model, Ts65Dn mice. Individuals with DS develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology and have elevated risk for dementia starting in their 30s and 40s. Individuals with DS often exhibit working memory deficits coupled with degeneration of the locus coeruleus (LC) norepinephrine (NE) neurons. It is thought that LC degeneration precedes other AD-related neuronal loss, and LC noradrenergic integrity is important for executive function, working memory, and attention. …

Neuroinflammation And J2 Prostaglandins: Linking Impairment Of The Ubiquitin-Proteasome Pathway And Mitochondria To Neurodegeneration, Maria E. Figueiredo-Pereira, Patricia Rockwell, Thomas Schmidt-Glenewinkel, Peter Serrano

Publications and Research

The immune response of the CNS is a defense mechanism activated upon injury to initiate repair mechanisms while chronic over-activation of the CNS immune system (termed neuroinflammation) may exacerbate injury. The latter is implicated in a variety of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, HIV dementia, and prion diseases. Cyclooxygenases (COX-1 and COX-2), which are key enzymes in the conversion of arachidonic acid into bioactive prostanoids, play a central role in the inflammatory cascade. J2 prostaglandins are endogenous toxic products of cyclooxygenases, and because their levels are significantly …

Spatial And Temporal Characteristics Of Error-Related Activity In The Human Brain, Maital Neta, Francis M. Miezin, Steven M. Nelson, Joseph W. Dubis, Nico U.F. Dosenbach, Bradley L. Schlaggar, Steven E. Petersen

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

A number of studies have focused on the role of specific brain regions, such as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex during trials on which participants make errors, whereas others have implicated a host of more widely distributed regions in the human brain. Previous work has proposed that there are multiple cognitive control networks, raising the question of whether error-related activity can be found in each of these networks. Thus, to examine error-related activity broadly, we conducted a meta-analysis consisting of 12 tasks that included both error and correct trials. These tasks varied by stimulus input (visual, auditory), response output (button …

Exposure To Kynurenic Acid During Adolescence Increases Sign-Tracking And Impairs Long-Term Potentiation In Adulthood, Nicole E. Deangeli, Travis P. Todd, Stephen E. Chang, Hermes H. Yeh, Pamela W. Yeh, David J. Bucci

Dartmouth Scholarship

Changes in brain reward systems are thought to contribute significantly to the cognitive and behavioral impairments of schizophrenia, as well as the propensity to develop co-occurring substance abuse disorders. Presently, there are few treatments for persons with a dual diagnosis and little is known about the neural substrates that underlie co-occurring schizophrenia and substance abuse. One goal of the present study was to determine if a change in the concentration of kynurenic acid (KYNA), a tryptophan metabolite that is increased in the brains of people with schizophrenia, affects reward-related behavior. KYNA is an endogenous antagonist of NMDA glutamate receptors and …

Data From: A Stochastic Burst Follows The Periodic Morning Peak In Individual Drosophila Locomotion, Stanislav Lazopulo, Juan A. Lopez, Paul Levy, Sheyum Syed

Physics Data Sets

The data is associated to the article A Stochastic Burst Follows the Periodic Morning Peak in Individual Drosophila Locomotion published in PLoS ONE. The full text article can be found at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140481

Developmental Remodeling Of Relay Cells In The Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus In The Absence Of Retinal Input, Rana N. El-Danaf, Thomas E. Krahe, Emily K. Dilger, Martha E. Bickford, Michael A. Fox, William Guido

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

Background

The dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) of the mouse has been an important experimental model for understanding thalamic circuit development. The developmental remodeling of retinal projections has been the primary focus, however much less is known about the maturation of their synaptic targets, the relay cells of the dLGN. Here we examined the growth and maturation of relay cells during the first few weeks of life and addressed whether early retinal innervation affects their development. To accomplish this we utilized themath5 null (math5−/−) mouse, a mutant lacking retinal ganglion cells and central projections.

Results

The …

Microglia Processes Associate With Diffusely Injured Axons Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury In The Micro Pig, Audrey D. Lafrenaye, Masak Todani, Susan A. Walker, John T. Povlishock

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

Background

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is an all too common occurrence that exacts significant personal and societal costs. The pathophysiology of mTBI is complex, with reports routinely correlating diffuse axonal injury (DAI) with prolonged morbidity. Progressive chronic neuroinflammation has also recently been correlated to morbidity, however, the potential association between neuroinflammatory microglia and DAI is not well understood. The majority of studies exploring neuroinflammatory responses to TBI have focused on more chronic phases of injury involving phagocytosis associated with Wallerian change. Little, however, is known regarding the neuroinflammatory response seen acutely following diffuse mTBI and its potential relationship to …

Acetylcholine Release In Mouse Hippocampal Ca1 Preferentially Activates Inhibitory-Selective Interneurons Via Α4Β2* Nicotinic Receptor Activation, L. Andrew Bell, Karen A. Bell, A. Rory Mcquiston

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

Acetylcholine (ACh) release onto nicotinic receptors directly activates subsets of inhibitory interneurons in hippocampal CA1. However, the specific interneurons activated and their effect on the hippocampal network is not completely understood. Therefore, we investigated subsets of hippocampal CA1 interneurons that respond to ACh release through the activation of nicotinic receptors and the potential downstream effects this may have on hippocampal CA1 network function. ACh was optogenetically released in mouse hippocampal slices by expressing the excitatory optogenetic protein oChIEF-tdTomato in medial septum/diagonal band of Broca cholinergic neurons using Cre recombinase-dependent adeno-associated viral mediated transfection. The actions of optogenetically released ACh were …

Proteomics: In Pursuit Of Effective Traumatic Brain Injury Therapeutics, Pavel N. Lizhnyak, Andrew K. Ottens

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

Effective traumatic brain injury (TBI) therapeutics remain stubbornly elusive. Efforts in the field have been challenged by the heterogeneity of clinical TBI, with greater complexity among underlying molecular phenotypes than initially conceived. Future research must confront the multitude of factors comprising this heterogeneity, representing a big data challenge befitting the coming informatics age. Proteomics is poised to serve a central role in prescriptive therapeutic development, as it offers an efficient endpoint within which to assess post-TBI biochemistry. We examine rationale for multifactor TBI proteomic studies and the particular importance of temporal profiling in defining biochemical sequences and guiding therapeutic development. …

Acetylcholine Release In Mouse Hippocampal Ca1 Preferentially Activates Inhibitory-Selective Interneurons Via Α4Β2* Nicotinic Receptor Activation, L. Andrew Bell, Karen A. Bell, A. Rory Mcquiston

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

Acetylcholine (ACh) release onto nicotinic receptors directly activates subsets of inhibitory interneurons in hippocampal CA1. However, the specific interneurons activated and their effect on the hippocampal network is not completely understood. Therefore, we investigated subsets of hippocampal CA1 interneurons that respond to ACh release through the activation of nicotinic receptors and the potential downstream effects this may have on hippocampal CA1 network function. ACh was optogenetically released in mouse hippocampal slices by expressing the excitatory optogenetic protein oChIEF-tdTomato in medial septum/diagonal band of Broca cholinergic neurons using Cre recombinase-dependent adeno-associated viral mediated transfection. The actions of optogenetically released ACh were …

Gabaergic Regulation Of Cerebellar Ng2-Cell Development Is Altered In Perinatal White Matter Injury, Marzieh Zonouzi, Joseph Scafidi, Peijun Li, Brian Mcellin, Jorge Edwards, Jeffrey L. Dupree, Lloyd Harvey, Dandan Sun, Christian A. Hübner, Stuart G. Cull-Candy, Mark Farrant, Vittorio Gallo

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

Diffuse white matter injury (DWMI), a leading cause of neurodevelopmental disabilities in preterm infants, is characterized by reduced oligodendrocyte formation. Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (NG2-cells) are exposed to various extrinsic regulatory signals, including the neurotransmitter GABA. We investigated GABAergic signaling to cerebellar white matter NG2-cells in a mouse model of DWMI (chronic neonatal hypoxia). We found that hypoxia caused a loss of GABAA receptor-mediated synaptic input to NG2-cells, extensive proliferation of these cells and delayed oligodendrocyte maturation, leading to dysmyelination. Treatment of control mice with a GABAA receptor antagonist or deletion of the chloride-accumulating transporter NKCC1 mimicked the effects of hypoxia. …

"And If Your Friends Jumped Off A Bridge, Would You Do It Too?": How Developmental Neuroscience Can Inform Legal Regimes Governing Adolescents, Michael N. Tennison, Amanda C. Pustilnik

Faculty Scholarship

Legal models of adolescent autonomy and responsibility in various domains of law span a spectrum from categorical prohibitions of certain behaviors to recognitions of total adolescent autonomy. The piecemeal approach to the limited decision-making capacity of adolescents lacks an empirical foundation in the differences between adolescent and adult decision-making, leading to counterintuitive and inconsistent legal outcomes. The law limits adolescent autonomy with respect to some decisions that adolescents are perfectly competent to make, and in other areas, the law attributes adult responsibility and imposes adult punishments on adolescents for making decisions that implicate their unique volitional vulnerabilities. As developmental neuroscientists …

How Does The Brain Implement Adaptive Decision Making To Eat?, Valérie Compan, B. Timothy Walsh, Walter Kaye, Allan Geliebter

Lander College of Arts and Sciences Publications and Research

Adaptive decision making to eat is crucial for survival, but in anorexia nervosa, the brain persistently supports reduced food intake despite a growing need for energy. How the brain persists in reducing food intake, sometimes even to the point of death and despite the evolution of multiple mechanisms to ensure survival by governing adaptive eating behaviors, remains mysterious. Neural substrates belong to the reward-habit system, which could differ among the eating disorders. The present review provides an overview of neural circuitry of restrictive food choice, binge eating, and the contribution of specific serotonin receptors. One possibility is that restrictive food …

High Fat High Cholesterol Diet (Western Diet) Aggravates Atherosclerosis, Hyperglycemia And Renal Failure In Nephrectomized Ldl Receptor Knockout Mice: Role Of Intestine Derived Lipopolysaccharide, Siddhartha S. Ghosh, Samuel Righi, Richard Krieg, Le Kang, Daniel Carl, Jing Wang, H. Davis Massey, Domenic A. Sica, Todd W. B. Gehr, Shobha Ghosh

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

A high fat meal, frequently known as western diet (WD), exacerbates atherosclerosis and diabetes. Both these diseases are frequently associated with renal failure. Recent studies have shown that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) leaks into the circulation from the intestine in the setting of renal failure and after WD. However, it is not clear how renal function and associated disorders are affected by LPS. This study demonstrates that circulatory LPS exacerbates renal insufficiency, atherosclerosis and glucose intolerance. Renal insufficiency was induced by 2/3 nephrectomy in LDL receptor knockout mice. Nx animals were given normal diet (Nx) or WD (Nx+WD). The controls were sham …

Elucidating The Role Of Injury-Induced Electric Fields (Efs) In Regulating The Astrocytic Response To Injury In The Mammalian Central Nervous System, Matthew L. Baer, Scott C. Henderson, Raymond J. Colello

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

Injury to the vertebrate central nervous system (CNS) induces astrocytes to change their morphology, to increase their rate of proliferation, and to display directional migration to the injury site, all to facilitate repair. These astrocytic responses to injury occur in a clear temporal sequence and, by their intensity and duration, can have both beneficial and detrimental effects on the repair of damaged CNS tissue. Studies on highly regenerative tissues in non-mammalian vertebrates have demonstrated that the intensity of direct-current extracellular electric fields (EFs) at the injury site, which are 50–100 fold greater than in uninjured tissue, represent a potent signal …

The Effect Of Silver Nanoparticles On Synaptic Responses In The Lateral Giant Escape Circuit Of The Crayfish, Samantha N. Adkins

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The lateral giant neuron in the crayfish is a neuron that controls the reflexive escape response; the context and experience-dependent tuning of this response is critical for survival. Serotonin modulates synaptic responses in this neuron, and social experiences (stress) changes the modulatory role of serotonin. I investigated the mechanisms of induced synaptic response changes and serotonergic modulatory changes after silver nanoparticle exposure to ask if 1) contaminant induced stress changes serotonergic modulation in a manner consistent with social stress and 2) shed light on potential neurotoxic effects of widely used, but poorly understood nanomaterials. Our data show that stress induced …

Firing Rate Dynamics In Recurrent Spiking Neural Networks With Intrinsic And Network Heterogeneity, Cheng Ly

Statistical Sciences and Operations Research Publications

Heterogeneity of neural attributes has recently gained a lot of attention and is increasing recognized as a crucial feature in neural processing. Despite its importance, this physiological feature has traditionally been neglected in theoretical studies of cortical neural networks. Thus, there is still a lot unknown about the consequences of cellular and circuit heterogeneity in spiking neural networks. In particular, combining network or synaptic heterogeneity and intrinsic heterogeneity has yet to be considered systematically despite the fact that both are known to exist and likely have significant roles in neural network dynamics. In a canonical recurrent spiking neural network model, …

The Need For Theory To Guide Concussion Research, Dennis Molfese

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

While the focus on concussion research has expanded greatly over the past decade, progress in identifying the mechanisms and consequences of head injury, the recovery path and the development of potential interventions to facilitate recovery have been largely absent. Instead, the field has largely progressed through an accumulation of data without the guidance of any systematic theory to guide the formulation of research questions or generate testable hypotheses. As part of this special issue on sports concussion, we advance a theory to describe the evolution of a neural network during the development of a cognitive process as well as the …

Resting-State Brain Connectivity After Surgical And Behavioral Weight Loss, Rebecca J. Lepping, Amanda S. Bruce, Alex Francisco, Hung-Wen Yeh, Laura E. Martin, Joshua N. Powell, Laura Hancock, Trisha M. Patrician, Florence J. Breslin, Niazy Selim, Joseph E. Donnelly, William M. Brooks, Cary R. Savage, W. Kyle Simmons, Jared M. Bruce

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Objective: Changes in food-cue neural reactivity associated with behavioral and surgical weight loss interventions have been reported. Resting functional connectivity represents tonic neural activity that may contribute to weight loss success. This study explores whether intervention type is associated with differences in functional connectivity after weight loss. Methods: Fifteen participants with obesity were recruited prior to adjustable gastric banding surgery. Thirteen demographically matched participants with obesity were selected from a separate behavioral diet intervention. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was collected 3 months after surgery/ behavioral intervention. ANOVA was used to examine post-weight loss differences between the two groups in …