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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Aging, Executive Function, Fronto-Parietal Network Cortical Thickness: Insights From Cognitive Reserve, Katherine Reiter
Aging, Executive Function, Fronto-Parietal Network Cortical Thickness: Insights From Cognitive Reserve, Katherine Reiter
Dissertations (1934 -)
Cognitive reserve (CR) indexes the nonlinear relationship between neurological insult and behavioral change. CR is manifested in both static factors (e.g., childhood environment, education) and modifiable lifestyle factors, (e.g., leisure activities). Detailed investigation of the influence of CR on cortical thickness, which indexes neuropathology, and cognitive functioning could be particularly important in understanding the heterogeneity of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). While memory decline is the hallmark of AD, executive functioning (EF) decline often predates memory changes, making EF an important target for investigating CR influences. The current study examines the relationship of CR and genetic risk for AD (ε4) on EF …
The Neural Encoding Of Reward In The Striatal-Pallidal Circuitry, Chung Lung Chan
The Neural Encoding Of Reward In The Striatal-Pallidal Circuitry, Chung Lung Chan
Dissertations (1934 -)
Humans and animals are constantly exposed to external stimuli. The ability to process reward value of a stimulus is critical to guiding appropriate behavior and essential for survival. These processes are regulated by neuronal activity and neurochemical signaling in the reward circuitry, particularly in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). The NAc receives dopaminergic inputs from the midbrain ventral tegmental area (VTA) and sends GABAergic projections to the ventral pallidum (VP). Electrophysiological studies have characterized phasic neuronal responses in the NAc that differential encode appetitive and aversive taste stimuli. Exposure to an appetitive taste stimulus evoked predominantly phasic inhibitory responses in the …
Regulation Of System Xc-By The Neuropeptide Pacap: Implications For Glutamate Transmission In Drug Addiction, Linghai Kong
Regulation Of System Xc-By The Neuropeptide Pacap: Implications For Glutamate Transmission In Drug Addiction, Linghai Kong
Dissertations (1934 -)
Drug addiction is a chronic brain disorder characterized by heightened relapse susceptibility. Drug-induced aberrant glutamate signaling in corticostriatal circuitry contributes to behaviors in virtually every preclinical model of drug seeking and correlates with drug craving in human. Here, we propose that glutamate signaling is a product of integrated activity between neurons and astrocytes, such that disruptions within astrocytes can stem from abnormal neuronal signaling (e.g., altered corticostriatal firing) and be the source of additional disruptions in other neuronal circuits. The astrocytic mechanism studied in these experiments is system xc- (Sxc) since drug-induced changes to this non-vesicular glutamate release mechanism contribute …