Behavioral Neurobiology Commons^™

Neutrophil To Lymphocyte Ratio: A Prognostic Indicator For Astronaut Health, Amber M. Paul, Siddhita D. Mhatre, Egle Cekanaviciute, Ann-Sofie Schreurs, Candice G.T. Tahimic, Ruth K. Globus, Brian Crucian, Sharmila Bhattacharya

Publications

Short-term and long-term spaceflight missions can cause immune system dysfunction in astronauts. Recent studies indicate elevated white blood cells (WBC) and polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) in astronaut blood, along with unchanged or reduced lymphocyte counts, and reduced T cell function, during short-(days) and long-(months) term spaceflight. A high PMN to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) can acts as a strong predictor of poor prognosis in cancer, and as a biomarker for subclinical inflammation in humans and chronic stress in mouse models, however, the NLR has not yet been identified as a predictor of astronaut health during spaceflight. For this, complete blood cell count …

Stress-Induced Heat Shock Protein 40 And Immune Function In Altered Gravity, Amber M. Paul, Brooke D. Shepard, Sharmila Bhattacharya

Publications

In space, astronauts are more susceptible to pathogens, viral reactivation and immunosuppression, which poses limits to their health and the mission. Interestingly, during space flight, stress-inducible heat shock proteins (HSP) are robustly induced, and the overexpression of HSPs have been implicated in immune dysregulation, therefore HSPs may be critically involved in regulating immune homeostasis. HSP40/DNAJ1 plays a major role in proper protein translation and folding. Its loss of function has been implicated in susceptibility to microbial infection, while its overexpression has been implicated in autoimmunity, collectively suggesting its complicated, but necessary, role in maintaining immunological function. To determine the role …

Dietary Curcumin Promotes Resilience To Chronic Social Defeat Stress In A Highly Susceptible Mouse Strain, Antonio V. Aubry

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Chronic exposure to stress is a risk factor for the development of major depression and post traumatic stress disorder in humans and induces depressive- and anxiety-like phenotypes in rodents. However, there are few pharmacological interventions available that effectively treat maladaptive responses to chronic stress in the clinical setting. One therapeutic agent that has recently shown promise in treating psychiatric disorders is curcumin, a yellow-pigmented polyphenol compound found in the turmeric plant. Curcumin has been shown to prevent the development of stressed-induced depressive-like behavior in rodents and reduce symptoms of depression in clinically diagnosed patients. In this dissertation, I investigated whether …

Curcumin Inhibits The Ikk:Nf-Kappa B Pathway In Neural Fear Circuits, Miguel A. Briones

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The study of how the brain acquires fearful memories has attracted considerable experimental attention, due in part to the promise of discovering novel therapeutic approaches for psychiatric disorders that are characterized by unusually strong and persistent traumatic memories. In recent years, extensive research has focused on studying the neural and molecular mechanisms by which fear memories are acquired, stored, and retrieved in the brain. Once acquired, fear memories may be attenuated using one of 2 procedures: 1) fear extinction, which involves repeated presentation of the fear-arousing stimulus in the absence of an aversive consequence, or 2) interference with the reconsolidation …

Congenital Zika Virus Infection In Immunocompetent Mice Causes Postnatal Growth Impediment And Neurobehavioral Deficits, Amber M. Paul, Dhiraj Acharya, Biswas Neupane, E. Ashley Thompson, Gabriel Gonzalez-Fernandez, Katherine M. Copeland

Publications

A small percentage of babies born to Zika virus (ZIKV)-infected mothers' manifest severe defects at birth, including microcephaly. Among those who appeared healthy at birth, there are increasing reports of postnatal growth or developmental defects. However, the impact of congenital ZIKV infection in postnatal development is poorly understood. Here, we report that a mild congenital ZIKV-infection in pups born to immunocompetent pregnant mice did not display apparent defects at birth, but manifested postnatal growth impediments and neurobehavioral deficits, which include reduced locomotor and cognitive deficits that persisted into adulthood. We found that the brains of these pups were smaller, had …

An Investigation Of Vocal Learning Propensity In Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia Guttata), Tatsuya Hayashi

Theses and Dissertations

The investigator attempted to predict the vocal learning propensity from either family pedigree or early vocal babbling (subsong). Pedigree trees suggest the possibility that vocal learning ability may depend on family. We failed to predict vocal learning propensity from subsong, but suggested that subsong may influence vocal learning outcome.

Examining The Associative Learning And Accumbal Dopaminergic Mechanisms Of Caffeine Reinforcement, Curtis Bradley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Caffeine is the most consumed psychoactive substance in the world, and most caffeine consumption in coffee and energy drinks is intended to produce a psychoactive effect. However, caffeine is not a primary reinforcer in preclinical paradigms – non-human species do not reliably take the drug to produce a psychoactive effect. However, caffeine is a ‘reinforcement enhancer’ in preclinical models; the effects of caffeine increase the motivation to obtain other non-drug reinforcers. The overall goal of this project was to determine if these reinforcement enhancing effects of caffeine could promote caffeine self-administration and to subsequently investigate the behavioral and neurochemical underpinnings …

Modeling And Mapping Addiction In The Zebrafish, Danio Rerio, Bradley Serpa

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

Driven by the communication of dopamine, the vertebrate reward system has been evolutionarily conserved to maintain survival and optimize fitness. The neural circuits governing this system integrate sensory stimuli to produce appropriate, self-preserving responses that underlie experience-based learning. In the most primitive vertebrates, dopamine release in neuronal circuits drives homeostatic behaviors, such as seeking nutrients, finding a mate, or avoiding danger. From agnathans to mammals, dopaminergic synthesis and signaling genes and molecules, along with neuronal pathways and reward system-based behaviors, remain highly conserved. Dopamine signaling proteins include two classes of metabotropic G-Protein Receptor Coupled Dopamine Receptors, D1-like (DRD1) and D2-like …

Chemosensory Communication And Neural Substrates Of Social Behavior In The African Cichlid Fish, Astatotilapia Burtoni, Karen Elizabeth Field

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Social animals must constantly assess their environment to make appropriate decisions. In several fish species, chemosensory signaling is crucial for social communication, conveying information on sex, reproductive state, and social status. Despite its importance in fishes, relatively little is known about how they employ chemical signaling, with only a few of the over 30,000 extant species investigated thus far. Further, there is a scarcity of information about where and how socially-relevant chemosensory signals are processed in the brain of fishes, or how chemosensory signals are integrated with other senses to elicit appropriate behaviors. For my doctoral research, I examined the …

Processing Emotional Expression In The Dance Of A Foreign Culture: Gestural Responses Of Germans And Koreans To Ballet And Korean Dance, Zi Hyun Kim, Hedda Lausberg

Journal of Movement Arts Literacy Archive (2013-2019)

Artistic dance differs between cultures with regard to the formal movement repertoire and methods to represent dancer's emotions. The present study explores how differently the spectators perceive the dance scenes of their own and foreign cultures. We showed German and Korean participants sad and happy dance scenes of the French ballet Giselle and Korean dance Sung-Mu. To learn the perceived thoughts and feelings of the participant from the dance scenes, we analyzed the frequency of their hand movements and gestures, which were accompanied by verbal descriptions of the participant's appreciation immediately after observation of the dance stimuli. The videotaped …

Defining The Radioresponse Of Mossy Cells, Devon Ivy

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Clinical radiotherapy is used to treat a variety of brain tumors within the central nervous system. While effective, it can result in progressive and debilitating cognitive impairment that can diminish quality of life. These impairments have been linked to hippocampal dysfunction and corresponding deficits in spatial learning and memory. Mossy cells are a major population of excitatory neurons located within the dentate hilus and highly involved in hippocampal circuitry. They play critical roles in spatial navigation, neurogenesis, memory, and are particularly vulnerable to a variety of neurotoxic insults. However, their sensitivity to ionizing radiation has yet to be investigated in …

At-Home Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (Tdcs) With Telehealth Support For Symptom Control In Chronically-Ill Patients With Multiple Symptoms, Alexa Riggs, Vaishali Patel, Bhaskar Paneri, Russell K. Portenoy, Marom Bikson, Helena Knotkova

Publications and Research

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) delivered in multiple sessions can reduce symptom burden, but access of chronically ill patients to tDCS studies is constrained by the burden of office-based tDCS administration. Expanded access to this therapy can be accomplished through the development of interventions that allow at-home tDCS applications.

Objective: We describe the development and initial feasibility assessment of a novel intervention for the chronically ill that combines at-home tDCS with telehealth support. Methods: In the developmental phase, the tDCS procedure was adjusted for easy application by patients or their informal caregivers at home, and a tDCS protocol with specific …

Contextual Fear Retrieval-Induced Fos Expression Across Early Development In The Rat: An Analysis Using Established Nervous System Nomenclature Ontology, Anthony Santarelli, Arshad Khan, Andrew Poulos

Selected Works Temporary Series

No abstract provided.

Contextual Fear Retrieval-Induced Fos Expression Across Early Development In The Rat: An Analysis Using Established Nervous System Nomenclature Ontology, Santarelli, Arshad Khan, Andrew Poulos

Departmental Papers (Biology)

No abstract provided.

Addictions, Behavioral Addictions, And Pathological Internet Use As Internet Addiction - A Literature Review, Vy K. Nguyen

Publications and Research

Excessive and pathological uses of the Internet are observed and discussed often in our modern conversations. Access to the Internet has become so convenient that these behaviors can lead to consequences in many areas of our lives from social relationships to academic and professional work performance. A common term that people use to address this pattern of behaviors is “Internet Addiction” or more specific ones, such as “Social Media Addiction” or “Online Gaming Addiction.” However, in clinical psychology, addiction has its own specific definitions. It refers to a category and set of criteria that are distinguished from other mental disorders …

Contributions Of Aδ Nociceptors To The Nociceptive Withdrawal Response In Intact Unanesthetized Rats, Kristin Sammons

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The nociceptive withdrawal response (NWR), characterized by rapid withdrawal of stimulated body parts, can be evoked by stimulation of two classes of sensory nociceptors: Aδ and C-fibers. Previous studies revealed conflicting results concerning the factors that determine the direction and magnitude of the NWR. Some studies showed that the direction of the NWR depends upon stimulus location. In contrast, other studies, including those from our laboratory, showed that the direction of the NWR does not depend on stimulus location but rather is modulated by posture. However, it is likely that the heat stimuli delivered in our studies stimulated a mixture …

Escape Behavior Of The Grammostola Rosea Tarantula And Phidippus Regius Spider In Response To Heat Stimuli, Madison Thomas

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Insects respond to aversive stimuli such as wind, looming and heat by escaping in a direction opposite the stimuli. Spiders have 8 legs, which offers the spider more gait options for escape than insects, which have 6 legs. However, there are few published studies on the escape response of spiders, and there is no information that shows how location or direction of the stimulus will affect escape patterns. Therefore, the specific goal of my research was to determine the relationship between the stimulus location and direction of response in two species of spider – Regal Jumping spiders (Phidippus regius …

The Characterization Of Behavioral Abnormalities In Bdnf Loxp Transgenic Mice, Ryan Brandt

All NMU Master's Theses

BDNF homozygous floxed mice (BDNF ^lox+/+) are a transgenic mouse strain used to study the neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) through Cre-Lox recombination when crossed with the appropriate Cre-expressing strain. BDNF ^lox+/+ mice contain two artificially inserted LoxP sites located upstream and downstream from the BDNF coding region. This strain was originally described as physiologically normal and fertile by Rios et al., (2001). However, current literature lacks sufficient characterization and description of its behavioral phenotype. We utilized a three-stage behavioral protocol which included home cage monitoring observations, open-field, tail suspension, and acoustic PPI to provide a detailed behavioral phenotype …

The Ush2a Gene: An Analysis Of Ultrasonic Vocalizations In A Mouse Model Of Usher Syndrome Type 2, Kiana R. Akhundzadeh

Honors Scholar Theses

Usher syndrome type 2 is a complex autosomal recessive genetic disorder that is characterized by moderate to severe congenital sensorineural hearing loss, the onset of retinitis pigmentosa in the second decade of life, and in some cases, vestibular dysfunction. Mutations in the USH2A gene account for 85% of cases of type 2. The USH2A gene is responsible for encoding the protein usherin, which has an important role in the development and function of inner ear hair cells and retinal photoreceptors. Until recently, it has been believed that carriers of the USH2A mutation were phenotype free. However, recent data has suggested …

Diel Rhythmicity Found In Behavior But Not Biogenic Amine Levels In The Funnel-Web Spider Agelenopsis Pennsylvanica (Araneae, Agelenidae), Alexander E. Demarco

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Quantifying individual differences in behavior and the extent that behavior is influenced by circadian control is of paramount importance in behavioral ecology. In addition, the proximate mechanisms underlying behavior are also critical in order to obtain a more complete picture of how behavior evolves. Biogenic amines (BAs) are simple nitrogenous compounds derived from amino acids and have been consistently and extensively linked to behavior. For this study, we analyzed temporal patterns of BAs in relation to the antipredator (boldness) and aggressive behavior in female Agelenopsis pennsylvanica, a funnel-web spider. Using HPLC-ED, we compared behavioral responses to temporal patterns of …

Moderate Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Impairs Performance In An Object-Place-Paired-Associate Task, Lilliana May Sanchez

Psychology ETDs

Memory impairments, including spatial and object processing, are often observed in individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Much attention has been directed towards the hippocampus, which displays significant alterations after moderate prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). In the present study, we tested a moderate PAE rat model in an object-place-paired-associate (OPPA) task, previously shown to require hippocampal processing. The OPPA task was composed of training rats to discriminate between an identical pair of objects presented in 180° opposite arms of a radial arm maze. Animals were given a total of 10 trials per day over 14 consecutive days of training and …

Inhibition Of Tnf-Alpha Decreases Microglia Activation In Rats Neonatally Treated With Poly I:C, Heath W. Shelton, Russell W. Brown

Appalachian Student Research Forum

Introduction: Current medical treatment for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (SCHZ) primarily relies on the inhibition of the dopamine D₂ receptor that has been shown to be supersensitive in these patients. Treatment occurs through the use of antipsychotic medication which leads to a number of debilitating dose-dependent side effects, such as weight gain, agranulocytosis, and seizures. Patients diagnosed with SCHZ have also been shown to have increased inflammation in their central nervous system (CNS), particularly within specific brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. This is in large part due to the interaction between a pro-inflammatory cytokine called …

The Effect Of Hypoxia On The Nervous System Of Aplysia Californica, Victor Escalona, Lynne Annette Fieber, Joseph Serafy

2018 Entries

The intertidal zone of California’s Pacific coast is home to the marine snail known as Aplysia californica, an organism that has found use as a model in experiments focused on understanding the basis of learning and memory. Its simple nervous system consisting of easily identifiable neurons, its life span of a year, and a readily-accessed aquacultured source from the National Resource for Aplysia make it an excellent model for ontogenetic, neural, and behavioral studies. Here, however, the focus was on strategies this species uses to survive in an environment rife with risks of hypoxia and desiccation during the tidal …

Calnexin Is Necessary For T Cell Transmigration Into The Central Nervous System, Amber M. Paul, Joanna Jung, Paul Eggleton, Alison Robinson, Jessica Wang, Nick Gutowski

Publications

In multiple sclerosis (MS), a demyelinating inflammatory disease of the CNS, and its animal model (experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis; EAE), circulating immune cells gain access to the CNS across the blood-brain barrier to cause inflammation, myelin destruction, and neuronal damage. Here, we discovered that calnexin, an ER chaperone, is highly abundant in human brain endothelial cells of MS patients. Conversely, mice lacking calnexin exhibited resistance to EAE induction, no evidence of immune cell infiltration into the CNS, and no induction of inflammation markers within the CNS. Furthermore, calnexin deficiency in mice did not alter the development or function of the immune …

Contextual Fear Learning And Memory In Alternative Stress Coping Styles, Matthew R. Baker, Ryan Y. Wong

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Animals frequently must overcome stressors, and the ability to encode and recall these salient experiences is essential to an individual’s survival. Across many taxa, studies have documented two alternative stress coping styles (proactive and reactive) that differ in behavior, cognition, stress physiology, and underlying neuromolecular mechanisms. The role of stress in cognitive traits (e.g. learning and memory) has been well documented, however, the influence of an animal’s stress coping style on learning and memory capabilities is only beginning to be understood. Here, we developed a contextual fear learning paradigm to characterize learning and memory differences between proactive and reactive stress …

Differences In Habenula Kisspeptin Expression And Its Effects On Stress Coping Styles In Zebrafish, Danio Rerio, Andrew Wahl

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Two particular styles of stress coping behaviors have been identified as evolutionarily conserved across vertebrate species and are referred to as proactive and reactive. Reactive and proactive stress coping styles have distinct 5-HT expression profiles with greater expression of 5-HT found in proactive individuals. It was previously shown that kiss1 expression in the ventral habenula (vHb) presynaptically activates kiss-r1 which can alter glutamatergic levels in co-localizing cells in the vHb that terminate in the median raphe (MR). This can directly or indirectly increase 5-HT expression in the MR via glutamate. It is unknown whether kisspeptin expression in the vHb can …

The Convergence Of Psychology And Neurobiology In Flavor-Nutrient Learning, Kevin P. Myers

Faculty Journal Articles

Flavor evaluation is influenced by learning from experience with foods. One main influence is flavor-nutrient learning (FNL), a Pavlovian process whereby a flavor acts as a conditioned stimulus (CS) that becomes associated with the postingestive effects of ingested nutrients (the US). As a result that flavor becomes preferred and intake typically increases. This learning powerfully influences food choice and meal patterning. This paper summarizes how research elucidating the physiological and neural substrates of FNL has progressed in parallel with work characterizing how FNL affects perception, motivation, and behavior. The picture that emerges from this work is of a robust system …

Binge Alcohol Exposure Causes Neurobehavioral Deficits And Gsk3Β Activation In The Hippocampus Of Adolescent Rats, Zhe Ji, Lin Yuan, Xiong Lu, Hanqing Ding, Jia Luo, Zun-Ji Ke

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

Heavy alcohol exposure causes profound damage to the adolescent brain, particularly the hippocampus, which underlie some behavioral deficits. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain inconclusive. The current study sought to determine whether binge alcohol exposure affects the hippocampus-related behaviors and key signaling proteins that may mediate alcohol neurotoxicity in adolescent rats. Alcohol exposure reduced the number of both NeuN-positive and doublecortin-positive cells in the hippocampus. Alcohol also induced neurodegeneration which was confirmed by ultrastructural analysis by electronic microscopy and was accompanied with the activation of microglia. Binge alcohol exposure impaired spatial learning and memory which was evaluated by the Morris …

The Winding Road To Relapse: Forging A New Understanding Of Cue-Induced Reinstatement Models And Their Associated Neural Mechanisms, Mark D. Namba, Seven E. Tomek, M. Foster Olive, Joshua S. Beckmann, Cassandra D. Gipson

Psychology Faculty Publications

In drug addiction, cues previously associated with drug use can produce craving and frequently trigger the resumption of drug taking in individuals vulnerable to relapse. Environmental stimuli associated with drugs or natural reinforcers can become reliably conditioned to increase behavior that was previously reinforced. In preclinical models of addiction, these cues enhance both drug self-administration and reinstatement of drug seeking. In this review, we will dissociate the roles of conditioned stimuli as reinforcers from their modulatory or discriminative functions in producing drug-seeking behavior. As well, we will examine possible differences in neurobiological encoding underlying these functional differences. Specifically, we will …

Social Influences On Songbird Behavior: From Song Learning To Motion Coordination, Iva Ljubičić

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Social animals learn during development how to integrate successfully into their group. How do social interactions combine to maintain group cohesion? We first review how social environments can influence the development of vocal learners, such as songbirds and humans (Chapter 1). To bypass the complexity of natural social interactions and gain experimental control, we developed Virtual Social Environments, surrounding the bird with videos of manipulated playbacks. This way we were able to design sensory and social scenarios and test how social zebra finches adjust their behavior (Chapters 2 & 3). A serious challenge is that the color output of a …