Behavioral Neurobiology Commons^™

Influences Of Salvinorin A And Sex Differences On Depressive- And Anxiety-Like Behaviors In A Chronic Mild Stress Paradigm, Sarah Mitchell

Theses

Kappa opioid receptors are colocalized with dopamine receptors and are frequently associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and drug use and abuse. KOR antagonism has widely been considered anti-depressive and anxiolytic in animal models while agonism is pro-depressive and anxiogenic. However, recent findings suggest that SalvA, a natural kappa agonist derived from a plant in the mint family, can reduce depressive- and anxiety-like behavior in rats. The current study investigated the effects of chronic mild stress on behavior, attenuation by SalvA, and sex differences. 52 Long-Evans rats, 26 males and 26 females, were exposed to six weeks of CMS. Animals received …

161— The Effects Of Environment On The Development Of Cocaine-Seeking, Gavin Vaughan, Akane Ichiki, Shreyya Malik, Allison R. Bechard

GREAT Day Posters

Cocaine addiction is a major individual and societal issue. This study aimed to investigate the environmental and social factors that influence the development of cocaine addiction. Mice were reared in either standard housing or enriched housing. Cocaine preference was measured using the Conditioned Place Preference paradigm, in which subjects are conditioned to associate an injection of cocaine (20mg/kg. I.P.) with a particular side of a 3 chambered arena. Subjects reared in enriched environments displayed increased preference for cocaine in cue primed tests. All subjects displayed cocaine preference in cocaine primed tests. This may be attributed to the enhanced memory that …

130— Reducing Stereotypic Behavior With A Ketogenic Diet, Anna Beltramini, Andrew Guido, Alicia Bauers, Joe Spano

GREAT Day Posters

Now a popular fad diet, the ketogenic diet (KD) is a high-fat, low-carb diet that for decades has been used for treatment of intractable epilepsy. Recent therapeutic applications of KD in animal models include treatment of dementia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and autism. These disorders are associated with stereotypic behaviors (repetitive, invariant behaviors with no apparent function) that are life-impairing and stigmatizing. However, little is known about their underlying mechanisms and no effective pharmacological treatments are available. Here, we present a novel application of KD to reduce stereotypic behavior in an inbred strain of mice (FVBN/J) that displays a prominent repetitive circling …

159— The Effects Of Trauma On The Response To Cocaine, Gavin Vaughan, Melissa Herman, Katie Kompanijec, Maren Hogan, Annaclaire Modico, Keara Mullin, Allison R. Bechard Ph.D.

GREAT Day Posters

Exposure to adverse events is a risk factor for substance use disorder. We modeled this in an inbred strain of mice by exposing adult males to a predator odor (a synthetic fox pheromone, TMT) and then assessing 1. Cocaine-induced locomotion, and 2. Conditioned place preference (CPP) of cocaine. TMT was an effective stressor as indicated by freezing behavior, an absence of movement that is an instinctive fear response in mice. Interestingly, in a 1-hour baseline locomotor test, TMT-exposed (TMT+) mice were more active than non-exposed (TMT-) mice. In addition, following a cocaine (10 mg/kg) injection (i.p.) TMT+ mice showed a …

Individual Differences In Ultrasonic Vocalizations And Freezing Behavior During Fear Learning And Extinction In Female Rats, Iris M. Sakamoto

Senior Theses

Although many people experience traumatic events, only 10%-20% go on to develop post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Women are particularly susceptible, with a prevalence rate double that of men, even when controlling for type of trauma exposure. This disparity suggests the existence of distinct neurobiological processes, particularly related to sex, that predispose some individuals to be more resistant to extinguishing learned fear. Similar differences exist in rodent fear conditioning and extinction, though female rodents are considerably understudied. We hypothesized that female rodents would exhibit individual differences in fear extinction similar to those that we have observed previously in males. The …

Carbon Dioxide Attracts Nesting Behavior In Captive African Naked Mole-Rats, Dan Mccloskey

Publications and Research

This dataset contains raw Radio Frequency Identification data for a 185 hour gas infusion study conducted in the TT-2 colony at the College of Staten Island in May-June 2019. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether colony members would be attracted to a chamber with elevated carbon dioxide levels matching the highest values recorded in the typical colony nest. The results show a significant attraction to the CO2-infused chamber during and after the period of CO2 in=fusion, with the relocation of the colony nest to this site for the first time in the history of this colony. These …

Experience-Dependent Changes In Nucleus Accumbens Activity Predict Cued Approach Learning: Contribution Of Nmda Receptors, Mercedes Vega Villar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Animals learn associations between environmental cues and the natural rewards they predict (e.g., food, water, sex). As a result, reward-predictive cues come to trigger vigorous reward-seeking responses. Many neurons in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) become excited upon presentation of an already-learned reward-predictive cue. These NAc responses encode the motivational value of the cue and are necessary for the expression of the subsequent approach behavior. However, the precise temporal relationship between the emergence of cue-evoked excitations in the NAc and the acquisition of cued approach behavior remains unknown. In Experiment 1, NAc activity was recorded as rats learned to approach a …

Activation Of The Sonic Hedgehog Effector Smoothened Counteracts L-Dopa Induced Dyskinesia By Restoring Cholinergic Interneuron Function, Lauren Malave

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Many types of neurons act as multimodal signaling centers. Yet, we have only limited insight into the regulation and functional consequences of neuronal co-transmission. For example, dopamine (DA) neurons, whose degeneration causes motor deficits characteristic of Parkinson’s Diseases (PD), communicate with all their targets by DA but only a selective subset of their targets using GABA, Glutamate, and the secreted cell signaling protein Sonic Hedgehog (Shh). It is unknown whether Levo-dopamine (L-Dopa) induced dyskinesia (LIDs), a severely debilitating side effect of DA supplementation in PD, might appear because DA neuron targets are exposed to high DA- but low Shh- signaling …

Implicit Bias Through The Lens Of Electroencephalography, Hope Cooper

Behavioral Neuroscience Honors Papers

Unconscious or implicit bias is a part of everyday life. All human beings both exhibit implicit bias and (some more than others) are also the victims of it. Due to the way humans have evolved implicit bias will never be something that ceases to exist. Thus, it is important that neuroscience and social science closely study how it works and how to curb the behaviors caused by implicit bias. In the following research EEG (electroencephalography) was used alongside a weapons IAT (Implicit Association Test) to examine specific neural components that may correlate with higher bias scores on the IAT. Specific …

Individual Differences In Cocaine-Conditioned Avoidance Behavior And Implication For Addiction Vulnerability, Maya Eid

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Decades of studies have examined the mechanisms by which drugs of abuse produce strong rewarding effects that drive addictive behavior. However, these drugs also produce aversive effects that are less well understood, but that also strongly influence drug-seeking, and may contribute to individual variation in addiction liability. For example, individuals with particularly strong aversive responses to nicotine or alcohol may be less likely to acquire smoking or drinking habits, with these protective effects arising from specific biological differences in nicotinic receptor function or alcohol metabolism, respectively. These aversive effects can also be exploited therapeutically, as in widely available treatments for …

Role Of Dynorphin/Kappa Opioid Receptor Activity Within The Extended Amygdala In Binge Alcohol Drinking, Harold Lewis Haun

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is a significant national and global public health problem. Of concern, binge drinking is the most common pattern of excessive alcohol consumption and serves as a risk factor for the development of AUD. Recent studies have implicated the dynorphin/kappa opioid receptor (DYN/KOR) neuropeptide system in this pattern of drinking but the precise circuitry mediating these effects are poorly understood. The central amygdala (CeA) and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) are two interconnected structures within the extended amygdala macrostructure that are rich in DYN/KOR and thought to contribute to binge drinking behavior. In the present …

Young African American Men's Conception Of Fatherhood Among Survivors Of Childhood Abuse, Ohan Patricia Carter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Male survivors of abuse who become fathers themselves face challenges different from female survivors, such as conceptualizing their roles as providers and heads of households after the traumatic and often belittling experiences of abuse. However, very few researchers have studied the connection between child abuse and fatherhood, and none specific to young African American fathers. An interpretative phenomenological approach enabled exploration of how African American fathers who were abused as children, conceptualized and perceived their own experiences with fatherhood. The theoretical framework for this study was identity theory, which indicates that how people conceptualize a social role influences their actions …

Assessing A Two-Hit Model Of Schizophrenia: Prenatal Choline Deficiency And Induced Hypofunction Of Nmda Receptors In Male And Female Long Evans Rats, Samuel Gray, Samuel W. Gray

Honors Theses

Choline is an essential dietary nutrient essential to the development and function of the central nervous system. Prenatal choline deficiency alters hippocampal development as well as acetylcholine metabolism, leading to cognitive impairments and attentional and sensory processing deficits into adulthood. MK-801 is an NMDA receptor antagonist frequently used in rodent models of neuropsychiatric conditions, particularly schizophrenia. Acutely and sub- chronically, it causes hyperlocomotion and social withdrawal. One primary goal of the present study were to investigate prenatal choline deficiency induces a biological vulnerability to the motor deficits, anhedonia, and social impairment precipitated by low-dose sub-chronic MK-801 administration in adulthood. Another …

Executive Function Deficit As A Precursor To Memory Impairments In Hapoe4 Transgenic Rats, Kaitlin Mcmanus

Honors Theses

The hApoE4 allele is one of the strongest genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It underlies amyloid-bdeposits and neurofibrillary tangles, the two hallmarks associated with AD pathology, and is subsequently associated with AD symptomology. Despite its importance, no rat animal studies to date use hApoE4 knock-ins. In addition to this deficit in the field of AD literature, the vast majority of AD studies focus on memory, even though executive function deficits may precede memory impairments in AD, and may be a predictor of AD development. Thus, the present study addressed these gaps in AD research by investigating the behavioral …

Effects Of The Abused Inhalant Toluene On Mpfc-Dependent Cognitive Behaviors And Associated Neural Activity, Kevin Michael Braunscheidel

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Volatile organic solvents like toluene induce euphoria and intoxication when inhaled at high concentrations. Inhalant misuse is linked to behavioral, cognitive, and anatomical deficits in humans leading to a reduced productivity and quality of life. Yet, preclinical studies on the effect of inhalants on executive control in animal models are limited. We address this gap in knowledge using rodent models in two ways: first, by examining the long-lasting effects of repeated toluene inhalation during adolescence on several measures of executive function in adulthood and second, by studying the effects of acute toluene inhalation on risk/reward decision making and related neurocircuitry. …

The Role Of Melatonin In Biological Rhythms Of Songbirds, Clifford E. Harpole

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

In vertebrates, melatonin is a hormone that is produced and secreted at night and inhibited by light. This unique “darkness-only” expression profile makes it an intellectually appealing candidate for a means of transmitting temporal information to an individual, both time of day and time of year.

In passerine birds, “time of day” information is certainly transmitted via melatonin secretion. The primary producer of systemic melatonin in this family of birds is the pineal gland, and surgical removal of it causes a bird to become arrhythmic in constant conditions. I find that as pinealectomized house sparrows (Passer domesticus) become …

Young African American Men's Conception Of Fatherhood Among Survivors Of Childhood Abuse, Ohan Patricia Carter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Male survivors of abuse who become fathers themselves face challenges different from female survivors, such as conceptualizing their roles as providers and heads of households after the traumatic and often belittling experiences of abuse. However, very few researchers have studied the connection between child abuse and fatherhood, and none specific to young African American fathers. An interpretative phenomenological approach enabled exploration of how African American fathers who were abused as children, conceptualized and perceived their own experiences with fatherhood. The theoretical framework for this study was identity theory, which indicates that how people conceptualize a social role influences their actions …

Moderators Of Depression And Self-Management In Type 2 Diabetes Patients, Cynthia Elaine Fraser

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although Type 2 diabetes can be reversed or controlled, many individuals choose not to adhere to treatment regimens, nor do they engage in self-management practices. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to explore self-management among individuals with Type 2 diabetes, examining whether some psychosocial variables have a moderating effect on self-management. The psychosocial variables explored in this research were perception of body image, fear of hypoglycemia, level of family support, and depression. The biopsychosocial model was the theoretical framework. Using the Body Appreciation Scale, Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire, The Family Relationship Scale, Hypoglycemic Fear Survey (HFS-II), and the Beck Depression …

Inhibition Of Pain Or Response To Injury In Invertebrates And Vertebrates, Matilda Gibbons, Sajedeh Sarlak

Animal Sentience

In certain situations, insects appear to lack a response to noxious stimuli that would cause pain in humans. For example, from the fact that male mantids continue to mate while being eaten by their partner it does not follow that insects do not feel pain; it could be the result of modulation of nociceptive inputs or behavioural outputs. When we try to infer the underlying mental state of an insect from its behaviour, it is important to consider the behavioural effects of the associated physiological and neurobiological mechanisms.

Neuroscience Of Stress & Addiction: A Digitally Animated Video On How These Brain Systems Interact And Influence Each Other From Early Life Stress To Withdrawal, Claire Bacon-Brenes

Scripps Senior Theses

Alcohol addiction and stress are both highly prevalent health conditions impacting our society. With stress on the rise in college students and alcohol addiction impacting 19.7 million Americans as of 2017, communication around the science of these issues is ever important because of stigma around them. This digitally animated video effectively explains alcohol addiction and stress on a neurobiological level with college science students as the audience, including two important examples of how stress and alcohol addiction interact. Stress experienced early in life is a known risk factor in developing addiction due to dysregulation of the reward pathway and altered …