Cellular and Molecular Physiology Commons^™

Optimizing Itpa R178c Assays Via Hplc, Jared J. Reisnouer, Wally D. Pines

2026 Symposium

Two of the major nucleotide bases in DNA and RNA (Adenine and Guanine) are derived from the purine Inosine Monophosphate (IMP). IMP may occasionally form the noncanonical nucleotide Inosine Triphosphate (ITP) within the cell and become incorporated into DNA during replication, leading to potentially lethal errors. To combat this, human cells produce the “housekeeping” enzyme Inosine Triphosphatase (ITPA) to revert ITP to IMP. A mutation of this protein that replaces the 178th amino acid Arginine with Cysteine (R178C) is associated with a fatal infantile encephalopathy. Previous assessments of enzyme-substrate binding and catalysis for ITPA variants have been run at a …

How To Search For The Engram: Optogenetics And Network Dynamics, Claudia Garcia Jou

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Memories are thought to be encoded by ensembles of neurons called "engram cells", because their artificial activation with optogenetics leads to the behavioral expression of a memory. However, the physiological mechanisms that mediate this process remain unknown. In this thesis, I investigate how optogenetic stimulation of memory-tagged cells changes neuronal firing, spatial coding, and the geometry of neural manifolds. I used an active place avoidance task and a foraging task to label engram cells in the dorsal hippocampus with Channelrhodopsin2 (ChR2). I then recorded the hippocampal activity response to optogenetic stimulation in mice under anesthesia, head-fixed, or freely moving. I …

Design And Advancement Of Analytical Frameworks For In Vivo Single-Photon Calcium Imaging To Characterize Temporal- And Treatment-Dependent Neural Adaptations To Opioid Exposure And Withdrawal In The Medial Prefrontal Cortex, Alexia R. Alsum Dr.

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Despite the availability of several approved medications for opioid use disorder (OUD), it remains a significant public health concern characterized by persistent neurobiological adaptations that drive relapse and impede successful recovery. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a region critical for executive control and decision-making, undergoes pronounced functional changes during chronic opioid exposure and withdrawal, yet the cellular mechanisms underlying these adaptations remain poorly understood. This dissertation aims to investigate longitudinal alterations in mPFC neural activity across opioid exposure and withdrawal using in vivo single-photon calcium imaging and newly developed computational frameworks.

Following standard preprocessing to extract and normalize calcium traces, …

Manuka Honey Modulates Oxidative Stress In Neuro2-A Cells Through Mitochondrial Regulation, Rachel Abramovici

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Manuka honey is known for its vital usage in wound healing, being an agonist towards fighting infections, and is an acting antioxidant [32]. Its main constituents are flavonoids and phenolic compounds, with methyl syringate (MSYR) being a major active ingredient. The specific compounds responsible for these antioxidant effects, particularly in the CNS, remain unclear. It is hypothesized that pre-treatment of mouse neuroblastoma cells with MSYR followed by hydrogen peroxide exposure will activate the AMPK/SIRT1/PGC-1a pathway, due to MSYR’s phenolic structure, and thus reduce oxidative stress and improve mitochondrial biogenesis. Hydrogen peroxide is a standard reactive oxygen species (ROS) treatment to …

Advanced Interactions Of Directed Energy With Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells And Their Photochemical And Photothermal Responses, Jin B. Ha

Theses & Dissertations

Excess optical radiation can injure the retina through either rapid heat deposition (photothermal damage) or cumulative photo‑oxidative stress (photochemical damage), yet current laser‑safety limits treat these mechanisms as independent. To test that assumption, this dissertation integrated systematic wavelength, duration and temperature‑controlled laser exposures with live/dead fluorescence imaging in a melanin‑loaded hTERT‑RPE1 monolayer model. First, concurrent 447 nm (blue) and 2 µm (infra‑red) beams delivered for 200 s demonstrated a strong thermal–photochemical synergy: each beam alone was sub‑threshold (≤25 % lethality) but together produced 100 % RPE death without exceeding 50 °C, proving that modest heating markedly lowers the photon dose …

Peripheral Neuroimmune Mechanisms Of Chronic Back Pain, Aleyah Esther Goins

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Chronic back pain (CBP) affects 1 in 10 people worldwide, reducing mobility, productivity, and quality of life. Despite its prevalence, non-addictive treatments remain limited due to an incomplete understanding of chronic pain mechanisms. This dissertation examines peripheral neuroimmune interactions in CBP using a urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA)-induced mouse model (uPA-CBP). uPA, a pro-inflammatory serine protease, was injected into the L2/L3 lumbar spinous ligament, inducing prolonged mechanical and cold hypersensitivity. Flow cytometry of dorsal root ganglia (DRG) showed increased CD45+CD11b+ myeloid cells in males and CD45+CD3+CD4+ lymphocytes in females. DRG neurons from male uPA-CBP mice exhibited heightened action potential firing. Pharmacological …

Technological Development Of In-Cell Nmr: Microfluidic, Metabolomic, And Fluxomic Approaches, Nicholas Sciolino

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

In the fields of structural biology, metabolomics, and fluxomics, there is a driving, technique-based concern when it comes to high-resolution spectrometry and its marriage to biological and physiological relevance. Sample preparation often involves cellular perturbation, lysate separation schemes, combinations with non-biological reagents, and timeline slack. Conceptually, the farther we get from the cell, the greater the potential disparity between what exists in vivo and our in vitro manipulations. This is particularly true when seeking to collect data on transfected targets of interest, and on sensitive metabolic equilibria that occur on the order of minutes. The question remains: if we are …

Fiber Photometry Analysis Of Spontaneous Dopamine Signals: The Z-Scored Data Are Not The Data, Conner W. Wallace, Clare Y. Slinkard, Rachael Shaughnessy, Katherine M. Holleran, Samuel W. Centanni, Christopher C. Lapish, Sara R. Jones

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

Fluorescent sensors have revolutionized the measurement of molecules in the brain, and the dLight dopamine sensor has been used extensively to examine reward- and cue-evoked dopamine release, but only recently has the field turned its attention to spontaneous release events. Analysis of spontaneous events typically requires evaluation of hundreds of events over minutes to hours, and the most common method of analysis, z-scoring, was not designed for this purpose. Here, we compare the accuracy and reliability of three different analysis methods to identify pharmacologically induced changes in dopamine release and uptake in freely moving C57BL/6J mice. The D1-like receptor antagonist …

Use Of Electrical Bone Growth Stimulators In High-Risk Patients Following Spinal Fusion, Soumya Malhotra, Khavir Sharieff

HCA-NSU MD Research Day

Title: Use of Electrical Bone Growth Stimulators in High-Risk Patients Following Spinal Fusion Authors: Soumya Malhotra, BA., MS1 & Khavir Sharieff, DO, MBA2 1Class of 2027, Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Fort Lauderdale, FL 2Assistant Professor of Surgery, Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Tampa Bay, FLNova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the advantages of EBGSs following high-risk spinal fusions. Background: Pseudarthrosis is a condition where bones fail to fuse after an injury or surgery. It causes significant …

The Left Ventricle Under Stress: Exploring The Impact Of Gestational Stress On Postpartum Cardiovascular Health, Archana Ramesh

Senior Theses

A woman’s cardiovascular system undergoes several changes to equip it for the physiological demands of pregnancy. The left ventricle (LV) is most susceptible to changes such as increased cardiac output and workload because it is the primary chamber in the heart that pumps oxygenated blood to the entire body. Some mothers may be unable to cope with the physiological demands, and ventricular hypertrophy, along with other cardiac remodeling that takes place during pregnancy, may bring light to underlying cardiovascular disease (CVD). The peripartum period often comes with heightened stress, disproportionately for certain populations, and this stress has been linked with …

Use Of Cre-Lox Mice As A Model For Ependymogenesis, Poorva Bagchee

Honors Scholar Theses

Stem cells in the lateral ventricles of the brain undergo a process of development within the ventricular-subventricular zone. In early development neuroepithelial cells divide to form more neuroepithelial cells or convert to radial glial cells (RGCs). These RGCs, or stem cells, then divide to form neurons or other glial cells such as ependymal cells, which form a single-layered ependyma along the ventricular wall. These stem cells divide in two ways: symmetrically, producing two ependymal cells or asymmetrically, yielding one neural stem cell and ependymal cell. To further study this process the Cre-lox system in mice will be used. By breeding …

Dissecting The Tissue-Specific Contributions To Seizures, Cardiorespiratory Dysfunction, And Sudden Death In The Kv1.1 Mouse Model Of Epilepsy Using Conditional Knockout Approaches, Kelsey Paulhus

Biological Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), the primary cause of mortality in epilepsy, remains poorly understood. Studies suggest seizures may trigger dangerous signals affecting the heart and lungs leading to collapse and death. The Kv1.1 deficiency mouse model mirrors clinical SUDEP cases, showing spontaneous seizures, cardiorespiratory issues, and premature death. However, this model lacks regional specificity in Kv1.1 deletion, hindering insights into SUDEP’s mechanisms and anatomical substrates.

This dissertation employs three distinct conditional knockout (cKO) techniques to investigate the individual roles for the forebrain, brainstem, and heart in SUDEP related phenotypes. The findings reveal that the forebrain alone can trigger …

Genetic And Metabolic Factors Shaping Functional And Systemic Recovery Post-Spinal Cord Injury: A Focus On Apoe, Chase Taylor

Theses and Dissertations--Neuroscience

There are currently approximately 300,000 individuals living with a spinal cord injury (SCI) in the United States with an additional 17,000 injuries occurring each year. Perhaps of equal importance the median age at which an SCI occurs within the population has steadily increased since the 1970s to the 2010s from 29 years to 43 years and is still on the rise. Women, historically underrepresented in biomedical research, have also seen a slight increase in SCI incidence. This increase in age of injury onset means that more people with an SCI will be impacted by genetic factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease …

Utilizing Ai Integrated Neuroimaging Technology To Expand Upon Machine Learning In Positron Emission Tomography Technology With The Aim Of Detecting Amyloid Beta Biomarkers Early In The Onset Of Alzheimer's., Ethan S. Terman

Undergraduate Research Posters

Early intervention in Alzheimer's is vital for treatment. The earlier a professional can detect symptoms and make a diagnosis the earlier a prognosis can be implemented. With the prevalence of data in our day-to-day world combined with Artificial intelligence (AI), utilizing both for machine learning can pave the way for more accurate and efficient detection of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. AI combined with Machine learning (ML) increases diagnostic efficiency and reduces human errors, making it a valuable resource for physicians and clinicians alike. With the increasing amount of data processing and image interpretation required, the ability to use AI …

Estradiol’S Role In Timely Puberty Onset In The Ewe, Eliana Gerardine Aerts

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In female sheep, the release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from the hypothalamus triggers luteinizing hormone (LH) to be released from the pituitary. Luteinizing hormone, in turn, acts on the ovaries to elicit estradiol (E₂) release. E₂ acts in a negative feedback manner to control the amount of LH released. The increase in LH release that drives puberty onset results from a decrease in sensitivity to E₂ as the animal ages. However, the neural mechanisms mediating this change in sensitivity are not known, as is where in the hypothalamus E₂-negative feedback occurs. In the arcuate …

Structural And Functional Consequences Of Pde6 Prenylation In Rod And Cone Photoreceptors, Faezeh Moakedi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Phosphodiesterase-6 (PDE6) serves as a pivotal component in the phototransduction pathways of both cone and rod photoreceptors. In cones, PDE6 consists of tetrameric subunits: inhibitory (γ') and catalytic (α'). The catalytic subunit, PDE6α', contains a C-terminal prenylation motif. Deletion of this motif is associated with achromatopsia (ACHM), a form of color blindness. The mechanisms underlying the disease and the roles of PDE6 lipidation in vision remain elusive. Meanwhile, rod PDE6 is composed of α and β catalytic subunits and γ inhibitory subunits, with alterations in the C-terminal "prenylation motif" of PDE6β linked to retinitis pigmentosa (RP) pathology. In this comprehensive …

Cardiac Vagal Dysfunction And Ventricular Arrhythmogenesis In Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus After Myocardial Infarction, Dongze Zhang

Theses & Dissertations

Diabetes is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. Every eight seconds a person dies from diabetes around the world. Among various types of diabetes, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is the most common form, representing 90% to 95% of all diabetes populations. The leading cause of mortality and morbidity in T2DM patients is cardiovascular disease, among which acute myocardial infarction (MI)-induced ventricular arrhythmia is the major cause of death in T2DM. Patients with T2DM are two to four times more likely to die from MI than non-diabetic patients. Although well-known therapies including better glycemic control have …

Role Of Chronic Stress-Induced Neuroinflammation In Rodent Locus Coeruleus Physiology And Anxiety-Like Behaviors, Arthur Anthony Alfonso Reyes

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Theses and Dissertations

The locus coeruleus (LC), the primary site of brain norepinephrine (NE), is a key anatomical brain region implicated in the stress response. Stress is a neuroendocrine physiologic response to a stressor that promotes organism survival through adaptive change and restoration of homeostasis. The central stress response, which drives behavioral and physiological change, is primarily mediated by activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. While advantageous in the short term, chronic stress exposure can lead to HPA axis and LC dysregulation, which are thought to contribute to the etiology of anxiety disorders. Previous studies demonstrate the effects of acute stress in increasing LC …

Validating A New In Vivo Model To Study Als, Izabela J. Cimachowska

Student Theses and Dissertations

Buildup of oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction are well known characteristics of both sporadic and hereditary amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). While both forms of the disease seem to arise from common cellular dysfunction, the genetic disease is studied to a much greater extent. Engineering novel animal models of the sporadic form of the disease is crucial for development of druggable targets to treat ALS and understand the underlying mechanisms. Interestingly, accumulation of oxidative stress by exacerbated emission of reactive oxygen species (ROS) from presynaptic mitochondria is a hallmark of both hereditary and sporadic ALS. Previous work by our laboratory showed …

Exercise Training Rescues Increased Brain Isf Aβ Caused By Chronic Isolation Stress In App/Ps1 Transgenic Mice, Lydia M. Holtmann

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive brain disorder that destroys memory and cognition thought to be initiated through the build-up of the amyloid-beta (A) peptide. The A peptide aggregates, slowly forming into insoluble plaque substances that destroy the brain and worsen patient’s symptoms over time. Studies have shown that chronic isolation stress (CIS) increases the A peptide soluble and insoluble levels in the brain and that exercise training decreases these levels in transgenic mouse models of AD. We sought to determine if an exercise training regimen would rescue the increase in Aβ levels caused by CIS in the APP/PS1 transgenic …

Identifying The Cell Composition And Clonal Diversity Of Supratentorial Ependymoma Using Single Cell Rna-Sequencing, James He

University Scholar Projects

Ependymoma is a primary solid tumor of the central nervous system. Supratentorial ependymoma (ST-EPN), a subtype of ependymomas, is driven by an oncogenic fusion between the ZFTA and RELA genes in 70% of cases. We introduced this fusion into neural progenitor cells of mice embryos via in utero electroporation of a non-viral binary piggyBac transposon system containing ZFTA-RELA. From preliminary data in the LoTurco lab, inducing the expression of ZFTA-RELA into different neural progenitor cells produces tumors of varying lethality and cellular composition. To define the cellular composition and subclonal diversity of ST-EPN tumors, we used single cell RNA-sequencing to …

Identifying The Cell Composition And Clonal Diversity Of Supratentorial Ependymoma Using Single Cell Rna-Sequencing, James He

Honors Scholar Theses

Ependymoma is a primary solid tumor of the central nervous system. Supratentorial ependymoma (ST-EPN), a subtype of ependymomas, is driven by an oncogenic fusion between the ZFTA and RELA genes in 70% of cases. We introduced this fusion into neural progenitor cells of mice embryos via in utero electroporation of a non-viral binary piggyBac transposon system containing ZFTA-RELA. From preliminary data in the LoTurco lab, inducing the expression of ZFTA-RELA into different neural progenitor cells produces tumors of varying lethality and cellular composition. To define the cellular composition and subclonal diversity of ST-EPN tumors, we used single cell RNA-sequencing …

Investigating Mechanisms In Nociceptors Driving Ongoing Activity And Ongoing Pain, Elia Lopez

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Ongoing (apparently spontaneous) pain at rest is a major complaint of patients suffering from many forms of acute and chronic pain, including acute and persistent postsurgical pain. Accumulating evidence suggests ongoing activity in nociceptors is a major driver of ongoing pain. Ongoing activity can be generated in sensory neurons in the absence of sensory generator potentials if one or more of three neurophysiological alterations occur – prolonged depolarization of resting membrane potential (RMP), hyperpolarization of action potential (AP) threshold, and/or increased amplitude of depolarizing spontaneous fluctuations of membrane potential (DSFs) to bridge the gap between RMP and AP threshold. Cellular …

Open Neuroscience Initiative, Austin Lim

College of Science and Health Full Text Publications

The Open Neuroscience Initiative is a free-to-use textbook

This project began as a means to overcoming the financial burden that face undergraduate neuroscience students when buying textbooks. By compiling and writing a completely free-to-access textbook that covers the foundations of a typical college introduction to neuroscience course, students would have one less obstacle to overcome in their educational career, allowing them to focus their valuable time and attention on learning rather than finances. To make this project a reality, I began with a humble tweet in May 2019 that managed to gain a tiny bit of traction among the neuroscience …

Muscarinic Excitation Of Dopamine Neurons In The Ventral Tegmental Area Via Activation Of A Trpc-Like Cation Conductance, Yu Tzu Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) play a crucial role in reward and motivational behaviors, including the development of drug addictions. VTA DA neurons receive excitatory cholinergic inputs from the mesopontine tegmentum. Blockage of the M5 muscarinic receptor in DA neurons has been shown to attenuate drug-induced DA release and abuse-related behaviors, but the molecular mechanism is unknown. In this study, experiments were designed to identify the electrophysiological effects of muscarinic agonism in the modulation of action potential kinetics and firing patterns in VTA DA neurons of mice. Pharmacology of the muscarinic receptor-evoked current was also characterized. …

Myelin, Cpla2, And Azithromycin: Modulation Of Macrophage Activation In Spinal Cord Injury Inflammation, Timothy J. Kopper

Theses and Dissertations--Physiology

Spinal cord injury (SCI) produces a chronic inflammatory state primarily mediated by macrophages consisting of resident microglia and infiltrating monocytes. These chronically activated SCI macrophages adopt a pro-inflammatory, pathological state that continues to cause additional damage after the initial injury and inhibits recovery. While the roles of macrophages in SCI pathophysiology are well documented, the factors contributing to this maladaptive response are poorly understood. Here, we identify the detrimental effects of myelin debris on macrophage physiology and demonstrate a novel, activation state-dependent role for cytosolic phospholipase-A2 (cPLA₂) in myelin- mediated potentiation of pro-inflammatory macrophage activation. Macrophage- mediated inflammatory …

Morphological Changes In Dorsal Root Ganglia Macrophages Associated With Neuropathic Pain Mechanisms Suggest A Novel Target For Chronic Pain Therapy, Emily Kussick

CMC Senior Theses

The present study examined morphological changes in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) following an innate immune stimulus. The importance of the DRG has increasingly become recognized in pain processing as more than just the home of primary afferent cell bodies. All sensory information passes through the DRG via the primary afferents, and on to the spinal cord. The primary afferents synapse with second-order neurons in the spinal cord that ascend towards the brain, where they transmit the pain signal to the limbic forebrain and/or the somatosensory cortex for processing. The DRG is an interesting niche to study at as it …

Sexually Dimorphic Oxytocin Receptor-Expressing Neurons In The Anteroventral Periventricular Nucleus Regulates Maternal Behavior, Kaustubh Sharma

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The neurohypophysial hormone oxytocin is involved in the regulation of social behaviors, including social recognition, pair bonding, and sex-specific parental behaviors in a variety of species. Oxytocin triggers these social behaviors by binding to oxytocin receptors (OXTR) in various parts of the brain. Oxytocin-induced sex-typical behavior, therefore, suggests a sexual dimorphic distribution of OXTR in the brain. In recent years, the oxytocin system in the brain received tremendous attention as a potential pharmacological target for treatment of many psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, autism spectrum disorders, and even sex-specific psychiatric disorder like postpartum depression (PPD). An important problem and a …

Mathematical Modelling Of Temperature Effects On The Afd Neuron Of Caenorhabditis Elegans, Zachary Mobille, Rosangela Follmann, Epaminondas Rosa

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Microglia-Neuron Interactions In A Mouse Model Of Low Grade Neuroepithelial Tumors, Veolette Hanna

Honors Scholar Theses

Microglia are the macrophages of the brain and spinal cord, playing an important role in the immune response to disease states of the nervous system. This study conducts an investigation on the activity of microglia in response to low grade neuroepithelial tumors. Using mouse models and microglial markers, a qualitative and quantitative analysis of microglia activation, migration, and invasion within the brain cortex during early stages of tumor development was conducted. It was found that the presence of a low grade neuroepithelial tumor in the cortex of one hemisphere of the brain causes significant microglia activation in comparison to the …