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Full-Text Articles in Medical Sciences

Assessing The Effects Of Repetitive Mild Traumatic Brain Injury On Risk/Reward Decision Making And Catecholamine Associated Proteins, Christopher Knapp Jun 2024

Assessing The Effects Of Repetitive Mild Traumatic Brain Injury On Risk/Reward Decision Making And Catecholamine Associated Proteins, Christopher Knapp

Theses and Dissertations

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) disrupts cognitive processes that influence risk taking behavior; however, the effects of repetitive mild injury (rmTBI) or whether these outcomes are sex specific are unknown. Risk/reward decision making is mediated by the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is densely innervated by catecholaminergic fibers. Aberrant PFC catecholamine activity has been documented following TBI and may underlie TBI-induced risky behavior. Here, we exposed rats to sham (no injury), single, or three closed-head controlled cortical impact (CH-CCI) injuries to characterize the effects of rmTBI on 1) risk/reward decision making behavior using a probabilistic discounting task (PDT) and 2) levels …


Investigating The Role Of Vasopressin Receptor 1a Expressing Neurons In Mouse Dorsal Raphe, Tirth Nimishbhai Patel Jan 2023

Investigating The Role Of Vasopressin Receptor 1a Expressing Neurons In Mouse Dorsal Raphe, Tirth Nimishbhai Patel

Theses and Dissertations

Human social interactions heavily impact our physical and mental wellbeing. Arginine-vasopressin (Avp) and serotonin have both been implicated in modulation of social behaviors ranging from affiliation to aggression. In male mice, Avp neurons in the bed nucleus of stria terminalis (BNST) show increased activity during prosocial behavior. BNST sends Avp afferents to the dorsal raphe (DR) in the midbrain, a home to a large portion of serotonin neurons in the mouse brain. Previous data suggests that DR is activated during male prosocial behavior with a female stimulus, and Avp indirectly excites serotonin neurons. We hypothesized that DR contains a population …