Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

It’S Getting Hot In Here, So Maintain Situational Awareness, Abby Zavadil

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Everybody In The Club Gettin' Tipsy: Alcohol's Effects On Behavior And Cognition, Lauren Barrabee

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Professor: Resilience, Hewlet G. Mcfarlane

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Scientific Kenyon: Neuroscience Edition (Full Issue)

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Ditching Magic For Memory: The New Mushroom In Town, Dani Buch

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

What Does Aaron Hernandez Have In Common With Your High Schooler?, Sam Lee

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Cannibals, Chemicals, And A Trip Down Memory Lane: Unraveling Our Understanding Of Memory, Yana Honcharuk

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

Have you ever wished to preserve a memory forever? Or perhaps share a treasured memory with someone? Instead of having to look for words that could describe how you felt at the concert of your favorite band or at that first date with a person you’ve been pining for, wouldn’t it be nice to have the ability to transmit those experiences to your friends? To make them feel how you felt? While this sounds like a plot for another rendition of Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, or a chapter from Harry Potter, the scientific idea of memory transfer has …

Plastic Pollutants To The Brain: Wrong Kind Of Plastic For The Nervous System, Caleigh Wukitch

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

The plastic revolution is here: we store our food in plastic containers, walk around with our coffee in plastic cups, and sit all day in our plastic chairs. We also know that our plastic waste floats around poisoning waters, cluttering streets, and choking wildlife. But it may be doing so much more than we realize - what if it is rewiring our nervous system?

Woop-Woop! That's The Sound Of Da Immune System: A Story Of Tricky Trypanosomes That Evade The Immune System To Get Into The Brain, Sophia Knaysi

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Brains Vs. Brawn- Why Not Have Both? The Cognitive Effects Of Creatine Supplementation, Riley Orth

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

In books, movies, and TV shows, there is a common trope that associates large, muscular people with an impressive, and often comedic lack of brain power. Of course, we know that this is not exactly the case in the real world, but are the two somehow related? What if there was some magical substance that had the potential to not only increase muscular size and strength but also the potential to improve brain function? Fortunately for us, this supplement exists and it is known as creatine.

Friends To Lovers: It's More Than My Favorite Book Trope, Smrami Patel

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

All You Need Is... Netflix And Chill? The Neuroscience Of Sexual Behavior And Hookup Culture, Megan Quinn

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Molecular Mechanisms Of Opioid Use Disorder In Human Brain Models, Emily Mendez

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a national and global public health crisis with no end in sight. While studies from animal models hint at widespread epigenetic and transcriptomic alterations of opioid drugs, the molecular consequences of long-term exposure to opioid drugs in human brain is still unclear, and human-centered translational models are necessary to discern the human cell type-specific effects of OUD.

Using postmortem brain Brodmann area 9 (BA9) from the UTHealth Brain Collection for Research on Psychiatric Disorders, I identified angiogenic gene networks perturbed in the RNA and protein of OUD subjects, as well as downregulation of many neuron-correlated …

Novel Roles Of Microtubule-Associated Tau In Radiation-Induced Brain Injury, Riya Thomas, Riya Thomas

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Injury responses in cells lacking proliferation capacity such as terminally differentiated neurons consists of complex mechanisms to ensure cellular homeostasis. Brain tumor patients undergoing radiation therapy experience cognitive impairments similar to those seen in patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. Despite the plethora of research into radiation effects on proliferating brain cells, the impact of radiation on differentiated, post-mitotic neurons, including their structural and functional alterations, remain largely elusive. However, microtubule-associated tau, an important partner of cytoskeletal structural stability emerges as a pivotal player in the radiation-induced neuronal injury response, demonstrating compartmentalized functions such as repair-centric mechanisms and synaptic homeostasis. This …

Mapping The Neural Circuits That Underlie Metabolic Vs. Emotional Regulation Of Food-Seeking Behavior, Xu Zhang

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Flexibly adjusting food-seeking behaviors based on metabolic needs and environmental threats is crucial for animal survival. In humans, maladaptive food-seeking behaviors that contravene energy homeostasis, which is often driven by food-associated cues with hedonic reward values, lead to obesity and eating disorders. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the modulation of cued food-seeking behaviors by distinct metabolic and threat states remain elusive. Using an approach-food vs. avoid-predator threat conflict test in rats, we identified a subpopulation of neurons in the anterior portion of the paraventricular thalamic nucleus (aPVT) which express corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) and are preferentially recruited to respond to food …

Biophysical Model Of Retraction Motor Neurons And Their Modification By Operant Conditioning, Maria Rasheed

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Operant conditioning (OC) is a form of associative learning in which an animal modifies its behavior based on the consequences that follow that behavior. Despite its ubiquity, the underlying mechanisms of OC are poorly understood. Insights into the mechanisms of OC can be obtained by studying Aplysia feeding behavior as it can be modified by OC. This behavior is mediated by a central pattern generator (CPG) network in the buccal ganglia that contains a relatively small number of neurons. This CPG generates rhythmic motor patterns (BMPs) that move food into the gut by closing a tongue-like structure (i.e., radula) during …

Exploring Available Information On The Gut-Brain Axis And Alzheimer’S Disease For Clinicians Making Dietary Recommendations: A Scoping Review, Megan Gibson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract: Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a complex neurodegenerative disease that requires interprofessional collaboration. Pharmacological options are currently ineffective, increasing the need for preventative strategies to combat the rise of AD. Considerations of gut-targeted interventions have increased as a key component in the prevention of AD, based on the understanding that the state of the gut microbiome can impact cognitive function through the pathway known as the gut-brain axis.

Methods: This scoping review explored information on the gut-brain axis in persons with AD. A comprehensive search was conducted in November 2023. Forty reviews and 13 human studies were analyzed.

Results: There …

P300 Event-Related Potential Responses To Self-Relevant Stimuli, Jordan Razzak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous literature has suggested an apparent P300 sensitivity to self-relevant stimuli. To further explore this relationship, we asked participants to submit 10 photos, each of a particular category (e.g. footwear, plants), to be used as either targets or distractors in a given condition of an oddball task. Furthermore, we attempted to see whether the effect of self-relevance on the P300 could be induced in a participant by allowing them to study a set of unique photos which would then be used as targets. Our analysis suggested that P300 amplitude elicited in response to self-relevant stimuli used as targets was statistically …

Loss Of Tsc2 Results In Abnormal Postnatal Neurogenesis And Striatal Hamartomas, Victoria Riley

All Dissertations

Billions of years of evolution have culminated in the most complex organ in all of biology: the brain. Its capacity to sense, store, and predict information uniquely bestows humans with the capability to generate art, music, language, and math and sets humans apart from other species. It is therefore prudent and worthwhile to study the brain and its development. A critical aspect of brain development is neurogenesis, or the production of neurons. Neurogenesis is facilitated by neural stem cells (NSCs) and is influenced by the mTORC1 signaling pathway. For NSCs to differentiate and become committed to a neuronal cell fate, …

The Mitochondrial Membrane Potential As A Screening Tool For Immunostimulation, Kendra Mcglothen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The rise of neuroinflammatory disorders highlights the importance of early detection and intervention for more effective treatment options. Neuroinflammation is associated with the pathogenesis of many neurological disorders, including Major Depressive Disorder, Alzheimer's disease, and Multiple Sclerosis. There has been a focus on neurons to advance our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of neuroinflammation and its role in neurodegeneration. However, recent studies have highlighted the pivotal role of glial cells, particularly microglia, in neuroinflammation due to their active participation in the immune response. This study investigates glial-specific indicators of morphology, metabolic changes, and drug efficacy in neuroinflammatory conditions. By analyzing …