Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

Exposure To Violence As An Environmental Pathway Linking Low Socioeconomic Status With Altered Neural Processing Of Threat And Adolescent Psychopathology, David G. Weissman, Maya L. Rosen, Natalie L. Colich, Kelly A. Sambrook, Liliana J. Lengua, Margaret A. Sheridan, Katie A. Mclaughlin

Neuroscience: Faculty Publications

Low childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with increased risk for psychopathology, in part because of heightened exposure to environmental adversity. Adverse experiences can be characterized along dimensions, including threat and deprivation, that contribute to psychopathology via distinct mechanisms. The current study investigated a neural mechanism through which threat and deprivation may contribute to socioeconomic disparities in psychopathology. Participants were 177 youths (83 girls) aged 10–13 years recruited from a cohort followed since the age of 3 years. SES was assessed using the income-to-needs ratio at the age of 3 years. At the age of 10–13 years, retrospective and current …

Alzheimer's Disease, Dylan L. Weber

Student Publications

An overview of the background, etiology, pathophysiology, clinical features, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease.

Memory And Attention While Scuba Diving At Shallow And Deep Depths: An Open Water Study, Leanne Boucher, Joshua Feingold, Kelly Concannon, Stephanie Talavera, Jaime Tartar, W. Matthew Collins

Journal for Sports Neuroscience

SCUBA diving requires a high level of cognitive functioning, however, many divers anecdotally report poor memory and attentional skills while underwater. Few studies have documented cognitive deficits resulting from an open-water dive. Here, 23 divers completed both shallow (8 m) and deep (28 m) dives over two days in the open-water. The order of the dives was counterbalanced across participants. While at depth, they completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to assess anxiety levels, learned and were tested on a list of 36 words, and completed the trail making task (TMT) to assess executive functioning. They also gave saliva samples to …

The Intersection Between Toxicology And Aging Research: A Toxic Aging Coin Perspective., John P. Wise Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

We are imminently faced with the challenges of an increasingly aging population and longer lifespans due to improved health care. Concomitantly, we are faced with ubiquitous environmental pollution linked with various health effects and age-related diseases which contribute to increased morbidity with age. Geriatric populations are rarely considered in the development of environmental regulations or in toxicology research. Today, life expectancy is often into one’s 80s or beyond, which means multiple decades living as a geriatric individual. Hence, adverse health effects and late-onset diseases might be due to environmental exposures as a geriatric, and we currently have no way of …

Belonging Amidst Bias: Embracing Difference On The Path To Common Humanity, Alyssia Sheikh

Mindfulness Studies Theses

The mindfulness community prioritizes self-awareness and common humanity, but is often entrapped by the idea that oneness is equivalent to sameness. This inclination for objectivity is rooted in the same neural propensities that facilitate bias; the brain is a subjective organ, however, and so neurologically speaking, bias is inevitable. This paper asks: Is striving for sameness separating us from interconnectedness? A human experience is a subjective, diverse, and variable one. The path to shared humanity and social justice co-occurs with increasing cultural humility through mindful awareness and acknowledging our subjective nature. Exploring our neurological tendency to make assumptions, we …

Dietary Fatty Acids And The Brain: Mechanisms Behind Neurodegeneration And Neuroprotection, Bianca Kdeiss

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The impact of dietary fat intake on cognitive function has generated growing interest as the incidence of neurodegenerative disorders continues to increase. No known cures for neurodegenerative disorders exist at this time and available pharmacological treatments are limited in their efficacy. As such, prevention and early detection have been emphasized, particularly in the context of modifiable lifestyle factors, such as diet. Despite a recognized association between dietary fat intake and cognition, limited research exists delineating the impact of different types of fat on cognitive function. In this review, research examining the association between cognition and specific dietary fatty acids—such as …

Unexpected Arousal Suppresses Memory And Metamemory Predictions During Associative Face-Name Recognition Task, Sameer Sabharwal-Siddiqi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Successful recognition often depends on probabilistic estimation of memory-signal. Arousal has been shown to offset the influence of heuristic evidence on memory prediction. We conducted three experiments that tested whether arousal also suppresses predictions relevant to memory confidence. Experiments employed associative face-name memory tasks that included retrospective (Experiments 1 and 2) or concurrent (Experiment 3) judgements of confidence. During test, subjects were presented with a masked-affective face on a subset of trials. By timing the masked-affective face to precede a recognition judgement (Experiment 1), we replicated the finding that unexpected arousal offsets the influence of heuristic evidence on expectations of …

Mechanism Of Tau Propagation: Putative Therapeutic Approaches, Viktoriya Morozova

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

One of the characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease and associated tauopathies is the accumulation and aggregation of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. The biological activity of tau is to bind to tubulin and promote its assembly into microtubules with subsequent stabilization of the latter. When tau gets hyperphosphorylated it cannot bind to tubulin and carry on its function, instead, it binds to normal tau and sequesters it from microtubules leading to disruption of microtubular assembly and ultimately to the death of neurons. Our lab had previously shown that tau phosphorylation sites 199, 212, 231, and 262, combined with the FTDP-17 mutation R406W (Pathological …

Antisocial Behavior And Callous Unemotional Traits In Youth: A Biosocial Approach, Yong Lin Huang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Early life presence of antisocial behavior (e.g., aggression/delinquency) and psychopathic/callous-unemotional (CU) traits (lacking empathy/remorse, shallow affect) are precursors to juvenile crime and criminal offending in adulthood. Etiological research on antisocial/CU tendencies has implicated both neurobiological (e.g., alterations in brain function and structure) and environmental (social adversity, prenatal stress) underpinnings. It has been proposed that reward and punishment processing deficits may induce problematic traits and behavior, such that antisocial/CU tendencies may be linked to hypersensitivity to rewards and hyposensitivity to punishment. Studies in this area have generated inconsistent findings and focused primarily on adult and clinical samples, leaving youth and community …

Dietary Regulation Of Silent Synapses In The Dorsolateral Striatum, Allison M. Meyers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Obesity and drugs of abuse share overlapping neural circuits and behaviors. Cravings for drugs of abuse increase during abstinence, a phenomenon known as incubation. In obesity, increased craving is observed in individuals during dieting. Diets often fail, with return to- or increase above- original weight. The extent to which this reflects an incubation phenomenon has not been carefully examined. One mechanism underlying incubation is the reemergence of a developmental mechanism called silent synapses. Silent synapses are 'temporary' synapses that are important for remodeling brain circuits. They are prevalent during early development but largely disappear by adulthood. Drugs of abuse increase …

Clustered Protocadherins Ubiquitination And Phosphorylation Regulates Surface Expression, Albert Ptashnik

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Clustered protocadherins (Pcdhs) are a family of 60 adhesion-like molecules forming a neural barcode. In vertebrate neurons, 60 Pcdhs are coded by a large gene cluster. Numerous axons in the cluster are coding for the different extracellular, transmembrane, variable portion of the cytoplasmic and constant cytoplasmic domains where their expression is controlled epigenetically. These proteins mediate interactions between axons, dendrites, and glial cells during neural development. Yet, Pcdhs are not strictly adhesion molecules. In the amacrine cells of the retina, Pcdhs promote avoidance of the same cell dendrites, where in the cortex Pcdhs promote interactions between dendrites and astrocytes. In …

Role Of Nuclear Lamins In Oligodendrocyte Lineage Cells, Camila Yattah

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Differentiation of oligodendrocytes from progenitor cells is a highly regulated process characterized by a series of molecular changes, resulting in nuclear and morphological features unique to the mature oligodendrocyte state. Heterochromatin formation starting at the nuclear periphery, as well as increased nuclear rigidity are characteristically observed. The nuclear periphery is characterized by the presence of the nuclear lamina and it has been implicated in higher-order genome organization in cells. Lamins are the protein components of the nuclear lamina, and their expression is dependent upon the cell differentiation stage of the cells. While Lamin B1 (LMNB1) expression is high in progenitors …

Novel Therapeutic Strategies For Alzheimer’S Disease: Prostaglandin D2 Signaling And Its Human Polymorphisms As Well As A Polypharmacological Approach, Charles H. Wallace

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age related neurodegenerative disease with pathology that includes amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and non-resolving neuroinflammation. Non-resolving neuroinflammation lasts the entire course of the disease and has deleterious effects and is often thought to accelerate AD pathology. Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) have commonly been used as therapeutics to treat pain, inflammation and vascular. NSAIDs work by altering the cyclooxygenase (COX) mediated biosynthesis of prostaglandins which are lipid mediators that have many physiological functions, for example nociception, inflammation and vasodilation. Epidemiological studies support the notion that NSAIDs could be used to treat AD. Yet, clinical trials using …

Development And Characterization Of A Novel, Genetically- Encoded Sensor To Image Sonic Hedgehog Signaling In Functional Circuits, Sonia Bernal

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dynamic neurotransmitter and neuromodulator signaling in functional circuits is the neural substrate of animal behavior and cognition. The study of said circuits requires tools with sufficient spatiotemporal dynamics that can probe complex signaling patterns and decode their functional relevance by coupling the signal to behavioral output, ideally in awake, behaving animals. Much is known about the role of classical neurotransmitters such as dopamine in behavior, but a wide variety of peptides and small molecules also regulate neuronal transmission. One of these is Shh, whose presence has been observed in a variety of brain regions known to modulate movement, perception, and …

Competitive And Facilitative Interactions Between Pavlovian Cues In Human Associative Learning: A Behavioral And Neural Analysis, Fahd Alhazmi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Learning to anticipate significant events accurately is a crucial element of survival for all species. The process by which animals acquire this knowledge has been a central question of psychological research. A fundamental assumption of many learning theories is that the predictive value assigned to cues is not simply determined by their probability of reinforcement but rather by their ability to compete with other cues present during learning. The assumption of cue competition has significantly contributed to the development of behavioral and neuroscience research for decades, as it has opened the door to new empirical and theoretical advances on the …

Gamma Protocadherin Synaptic Localization And Intracellular Trafficking Is Consistent With Distinct Adhesive And Anti-Adhesive Roles In Development, Nicole Lamassa

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Clustered protocadherins (Pcdhs) constitute a family of cell adhesion molecules with approximately 60 Pcdh genes clustered in a 1 MB locus on chromosome 5q31 in humans. The Pcdh gene cluster is subdivided into α, β, and γ subclusters which encode related proteins. Individual neurons activate different subsets of Pcdh-α, Pcdh-β and Pcdh-γ genes by epigenetic mechanisms to generate distinct Pcdh adhesive units expressed by each neuron. This is thought to serve as a “surface barcode” for single-cell identity and synaptic recognition in the nervous system. The actual role for Pcdhs in neural development is still relatively unknown and different roles …

A Polypharmacological Approach To Relapse Prevention In An Animal Model Of Heroin Addiction, Scott T. Ewing

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Chemical compounds that target dopamine (DA) D1 or D3 receptors have shown promise as potential interventions in animal models of cue-induced relapse. However, undesirable side effects or pharmacodynamic profiles have limited the advancement of new compounds in preclinical studies when administered as independent treatments. In this series of experiments, we explored the effects of co-administration of a D1-recepter partial agonist (SKF 77434) and a D3-receptor antagonist (NGB 2904) in heroin-seeking rats within a ‘conflict’ model of abstinence and cue-induced relapse. Rats were first trained to press a lever to self-administer heroin and drug delivery was paired contingently with cues (e.g., …

Role Of The G Protein Beta Gamma Subunits In Serotonin Transporter Dynamics, Nora Awadallah

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Serotonin is a vital neurotransmitter and hormone with significant roles in almost every organ system. In the central nervous system, serotonin mediates physiological functions that in turn guide behavior and mood. Here, serotonin is released from serotonergic neurons and exerts its effects through serotonin receptors. Regulation of serotonin neurotransmission is important for the maintenance of its physiological functions; thus, extracellular serotonin must be sequestered to limit the intensity and duration of serotonin transmission. Disproportionate transmission is strongly linked with neurological and psychiatric ailments.

Extracellular serotonin levels are primarily mediated by the serotonin transporter (SERT), a critically important plasma membrane protein …

The Effects Of False Heartbeat Feedback On Moral Judgment, Scott Koenig

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Research on human morality is at a crossroads, with one side claiming that moral judgment is the result of rational inference and the other side claiming that it is the result of emotion-laden intuition. This study investigated whether emotion drives moral judgment by manipulating a core component of the experience of emotion: physiological arousal. The sample consisted of 77 undergraduate students at Brooklyn College (57% women, 43% men; mean age = 20.1). One group of participants was led to believe their heart was beating quickly, and another group slowly, while they read and evaluated a series of text vignettes depicting …

Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase Marks A Novel Population Of Adult Stem Cells In The Mouse Brain That Respond To Metabolic Interventions By Modulating Adult Brain Plasticity, Gabriel S. Jensen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is expressed by quiescent adult stem cells (qASC) in numerous adult murine and human tissues but has never been explored in the adult brain. Here, these data demonstrate that TERT+ cells in the adult mouse brain represent a novel population of multipotent qASCs. TERT+ cells were localized to numerous classical neuro/gliogenic niches including the ventricular-subventricular zone, hypothalamus and olfactory bulb, as well as newly discovered regions of adult tissue plasticity such as the meninges and choroid plexus. TERT+ cells expressed neural stem cell markers such as Nestin and Sox2, but not markers of activated stem/progenitor cells, …

Sensorimotor Content Of Multi-Unit Activity In The Paramedian Lobule Of The Cerebellum, Esma Cetinkaya

Dissertations

Based on Center for Disease Control and Prevention report 2016, around 39.5 million people in the United States suffer from motor disabilities. These disabilities are due to traumatic conditions like traumatic brain injury (TBI), neurological diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or congenital conditions. One of the approaches for restoring the lost motor function is to extract the volitional information from the central nervous system (CNS) and control a mechanical device that can replace the function of a paralyzed limb through systems called Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI).

One of the major challenges being faced in BCIs and also in general …

Investigation Of Neurotransmitter’S Knockdown Effect On Drosophila Melanogaster Female Aggression, Asil N. El Galad

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Drosophila melanogaster (D. melanogaster) is a popular model organism in neurobiology. While aggression has been studied heavily in male drosophila, there's minimal research on aggression in female drosophila. Neurotransmitters influencing aggressive behaviour in female D. melanogaster are poorly understood. Various neurotransmitters such as dopamine, octopamine, and serotonin influence aggression in D. melanogaster Further investigation of the role of neurotransmitters on aggression is thus important. The purpose of our experiment is to observe the effect of the knockdown of dopamine, octopamine and glutamate on aggression in female D. melanogaster.

Investigating The Role Of The Transcriptional Coregulator Cited2 In Regulating Intermediate Progenitor Proliferation And Modulating Behavior, Nikolaus R. Wagner

Dissertations - ALL

The mammalian neocortex develops from a thin layer of neuroepithelial cells into a robust mosaic of differentiated neurons organized into distinct layers and functional areas. This process requires a complex choreography of transcription factors and epigenetic regulators to be spatially and temporally activated in a precise manner. Disruptions in any aspect of this delicate process may lead to neurodevelopmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, or intellectual disability. One such transcriptional coregulator that is a crucial regulator of neocortical development is Cited2. Previous work demonstrated that forebrain-specific Cited2 loss-of-function causes a reduction in neocortical progenitor proliferation which leads to reduced …

Human Neuroimaging Reveals That Agency In A Video Game Boosts Functional Connectivity Within And Between Networks, Emily J. Davidson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In naturalistic settings, brains continuously interface with a dynamic and interactive external environment. The inclusion of such an environment in an fMRI study is difficult, given the practical constraints imposed by the machine itself. This study sought to test whether the ecological validity of fMRI could be enhanced by testing a new paradigm that incorporated a dynamic and interactive virtual environment (DIVE). To determine the viability of this paradigm, functional connectivity was assessed during a DIVE condition and compared to functional connectivity patterns acquired in conditions with equally dynamic stimuli but that lacked interactivity with the environment. This study found …

The Effects Of Prenatal Cannabis Exposure On The Basolateral Amygdala, Karen Kw Wong

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Clinical and preclinical studies indicate prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) pathologically affects fetal brain development and may increase vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and mood/anxiety disorders. In review research from our lab suggests that fetal exposure to Δ9-THC sex-selectively impairs mesocorticolimbic (MCL) circuit function. However, there is a distinct lack of focus on PCE models on the BLA. The BLA plays a central role within the MCL where it directly interacts with the VTA, PFC and HIPP. Importantly, our model exhibits significant VTA hyperdopaminergic activity, and sex-specific alterations to PFC/HIPP glutamate firing, alongside region- and sex-specific changes in dopamine (DA), …

Role Of Nucleobindin-2/Nesfatin-1 In The Regulation Of Energetic Status And Maternal Mouthbrooding In The Cichlid Fish, Astatotilapia Burtoni, Saachi Chugh

LSU Master's Theses

Feeding and energetics are fundamental processes in all species that must also be balanced with reproductive investment. The peptide hormone nesfatin-1 is encoded by the nucleobindin-2(nucb2) gene and has recently emerged as a key player involved in both feeding and reproduction across vertebrates. How nesfatin-1 might help regulate trade-offs between feeding and reproduction, however, are relatively unexplored. The female cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoniis an ideal system to examine the role of nesfatin-1 in regulating metabolic and reproductive functions because this species cycles between a gravid feeding state while preparing to mate, followed by a forced starvation …

Roundup And Glyphosate’S Impact On Gaba To Elicit Extended Proconvulsant Behavior In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Akshay Naraine, Rebecca Aker, Isis Sweeney, Meghan Kalvey, Alexis Surtel, Venkatesh Shanbhag, Ken Dawson-Scully

Chemistry and Physics Faculty Articles

As 3 billion pounds of herbicides are sprayed over farmlands every year, it is essential to advance our understanding how pesticides may influence neurological health and physiology of both humans and other animals. Studies are often one-dimensional as the majority examine glyphosate by itself. Farmers and the public use commercial products, like Roundup, containing a myriad of chemicals in addition to glyphosate. Currently, there are no neurological targets proposed for glyphosate and little comparison to Roundup. To investigate this, we compared how glyphosate and Roundup affect convulsant behavior in C. elegans and found that glyphosate and Roundup increased seizure-like behavior. …

Explicit And Implicit Emotion Processing In The Cerebellum: A Meta‑Analysis And Systematic Review, Jordan E. Pierce, Marine Thomasson, Philippe Voruz, Garance Selosse, Julie Péron

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

The cerebellum’s role in affective processing is increasingly recognized in the literature, but remains poorly understood, despite abundant clinical evidence for affective disruptions following cerebellar damage. To improve the characterization of emotion processing and investigate how attention allocation impacts this processing, we conducted a meta-analysis on task activation foci using GingerALE software. Eighty human neuroimaging studies of emotion including 2761 participants identified through Web of Science and ProQuest databases were analyzed collectively and then divided into two categories based on the focus of attention during the task: explicit or implicit emotion processing. The results examining the explicit emotion tasks identified …

The Effect Of Propionic Acid On The Habituation To Social And Non-Social Odour Cues In Adult Male Rats, Cashmeira-Dove P. Tyson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The enteric bacterial metabolite, propionic acid (PPA), elicits physiological and behavioural changes in rodents reminiscent of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This includes abnormal sensory processing and social behaviour. ASD may contribute to social deficits through impaired habituation; therefore, the present study examined the effects of intraperitoneal PPA on the habituation to social and non-social odours. Adult male rats were injected daily with PPA or the vehicle control, and for 3 days, habituated to a conspecific odour or vanilla extract for 10 minutes. On day 4, rats were exposed to a novel conspecific odour or almond extract for 10 minutes to …

Genetic Determinants Of Primary Nociceptor Sensitivity In Drosophila Melanogaster, Christine Hale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abnormal pain affects ~50 million adults nationwide. With many of the current treatment options for chronic pain, such as opioid analgesics, carrying side effects such as the threat for addiction, research into safer and more effective options for chronic pain relief is crucial. Abnormal alterations in nociceptive sensitivity, which is the sensitivity of peripheral sensory neurons that detect noxious stimuli, can underlie, and perpetuate chronic pain. However, much is still unknown about the mechanism of how these abnormal alterations in sensitivity occur. To help elucidate genetic components controlling nociceptive sensitivity, the Drosophila melanogaster larval nociception model has been used …