Neurosciences Commons^™

Oral Administration Of Levo-Tetrahydropalmatine Attenuates Reinstatement Of Extinguished Cocaine Seeking By Cocaine, Stress Or Drug-Associated Cues In Rats, Yazmin Figueroa-Guzman, Christopher R. Mueller, Oliver Vranjkovic, Samantha Wisniewski, Zheng Yang, Shi-Jiang Li, Colin Bohr, Evan N. Graf, David A. Baker, John R. Mantsch

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Cocaine addiction is characterized by a persistently heightened susceptibility to drug relapse. For this reason, the identification of medications that prevent drug relapse is a critical goal of drug abuse research. Drug re-exposure, the onset of stressful life events, and exposure to cues previously associated with drug use have been identified as determinants of relapse in humans and have been found to reinstate extinguished cocaine seeking in rats. This study examined the effects of acute oral (gavage) administration of levo-tetrahydropalmatine (l-THP), a tetrahydroprotoberberine isoquinoline with a pharmacological profile that includes antagonism of D1, D2 and D3 dopamine receptors, …

Patterns Of Fetal Heart Rate Response At ∼30 Weeks Gestation Predict Size At Birth, C. Sandman, C. J. Cordova, E. P. Davis, Laura M. Glynn, C. Buss

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

There is evidence that fetal exposure to maternal stress is associated with adverse birth outcomes. Less is known about the association between fetal responses to a stressor and indicators of fetal maturity and developmental outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether fetal heart rate (FHR) patterns in response to a startling stimulus at ∼30 weeks of gestation were associated with gestational age at birth and birth weight. FHR was measured in 156 maternal–fetal dyads following a vibroacoustic stimulus. All pregnancies were singleton intrauterine pregnancies in English-speaking women who were primarily married, middle class, White and at …

Prefrontal Cortex Deactivation In Macaques Alters Activity In The Superior Colliculus And Impairs Voluntary Control Of Saccades, Michael J. Koval, Stephen G. Lombar, Stefan Everling

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

The cognitive control of action requires both the suppression of automatic responses to sudden stimuli and the generation of behavior specified by abstract instructions. Though patient, functional imaging and neurophysiological studies have implicated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) in these abilities, the mechanism by which the dlPFC exerts this control remains unknown. Here we examined the functional interaction of the dlPFC with the saccade circuitry by deactivating area 46 of the dlPFC and measuring its effects on the activity of single superior colliculus neurons in monkeys performing a cognitive saccade task. Deactivation of the dlPFC reduced preparatory activity and increased …

The Effect Of Dopamine Therapy On Ventral And Dorsal Striatum-Mediated Cognition In Parkinson's Disease: Support From Functional Mri., Penny A Macdonald, Alex A Macdonald, Ken N Seergobin, Ruzbeh Tamjeedi, Hooman Ganjavi, Jean-Sebastien Provost, Oury Monchi

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

The central aim of our study was to elucidate functions mediated by the ventral and dorsal striatum, respectively, to better understand the cognitive effects of dopamine replacement in Parkinson's disease. We proposed that the ventral striatum underlies general learning of stimulus associations, whereas the dorsal striatum promotes integration of various influences on selecting. In Parkinson's disease, dopamine depletion is substantially less notable in the ventral relative to the dorsal striatum, and therefore greater improvements are expected for dorsal striatum-mediated functions with dopamine replacement. Using a simple selection task, we found that dopamine replacement impaired encoding and facilitation of consistent stimulus-stimulus …

The Mind In Motion, Shayan A. Gates

Senior Honors Projects

The Mind in Motion

Shayan Gates

Faculty Sponsor: Galen Johnson, Philosophy

The origin of most scientific disciplines can be traced back to a few philosophical insights posed by a few curious thinkers throughout time, and cognitive science is no exception.While intrigue has nearly always surrounded the human mind and its relation to the brain, validation of this relationship has not been so easy to come by, and there are still areas of contention during this time of advancement in neurological sciences and related technologies.

This topic is very broad (to say the least) so I decided to confine this paper …

Executive Function Profiles In Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury, Erik Nelson Ringdahl

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Traumatic brain injury is a common cause of disability and death among children in the United States. Insult to the frontal and temporal lobes are frequent in closed head brain injury. Cognitive deficits in a variety of domains are common sequelae of brain trauma. In many cases, trauma to the frontal and temporal lobe regions engender prominent deficits in higher-order cognitive processing, memory, and attention.

Higher-order cognitive processing, or Executive Functions are the grouping of cognitive processes necessary for organization of thoughts and activities, attending to the activities, prioritizing tasks, managing time efficiently, and making decisions (Alvarez & Emory, 2006; …

A Behavioral And Anatomical Analysis Of Conditioned Taste Aversion In C57bl/6j And Dba/2j Mice, April Rebecca Glatt

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Conditioned taste aversion (CTA) has been commonly used as a model of learning and memory. Traditionally, CTA approaches have used a paradigm that follows the model of classical conditioning. This involves presentation of a novel tastant, such as sucrose (conditioned stimulus, CS), followed by an intraperitoneal injection of lithium chloride that induces gastric malaise (unconditioned stimulus, US), which results in the aversion of sucrose (conditioned response, CR). However, a more natural classical conditioning paradigm involves the consumption, rather than injection, of the US by using a self‑administration paradigm that allows for time‑dependent analysis of formation, generalization, and extinction of CTA …

Prevalence Of Premature Ovarian Failure In Women With Tuberous Sclerosis, Emily Gabitzsch

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant tumor suppressor disorder characterized by hamartomas, or benign growths, in various organ systems. Inactivating mutations in either the TSC1 or the TSC2 gene cause most cases of TSC. Recently, the use of ovarian specific conditional knock-out mouse models has demonstrated a crucial role of the TSC genes in ovarian function. Mice with complete deletion of Tsc1 or Tsc2 showed accelerated ovarian follicle activation and subsequent premature follicular depletion, consistent with the human condition premature ovarian failure (POF). POF is defined in women as the cessation of menses before the age of 40 …

Forebrain Origins Of Glutamatergic Innervation To The Rat Paraventricular Nucleus Of The Hypothalamus: Differential Inputs To The Anterior Versus Posterior Subregions, Yvonne M. Ulrich-Lai, Kenneth R. Jones, Dana R. Ziegler, William E. Cullinan, James P. Herman

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

The hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) regulates numerous homeostatic systems and functions largely under the influence of forebrain inputs. Glutamate is a major neurotransmitter in forebrain, and glutamate neurosignaling in the PVN is known to mediate many of its functions. Previous work showed that vesicular glutamate transporters (VGluTs; specific markers for glutamatergic neurons) are expressed in forebrain sites that project to the PVN; however, the extent of this presumed glutamatergic innervation to the PVN is not clear. In the present study retrograde FluoroGold (FG) labeling of PVN-projecting neurons was combined with in situ hybridization for VGluT1 and VGluT2 mRNAs to identify …

The Effect Of Training On Motoneuron Survival In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Which Motoneuron Type Is Saved?, Sherif M. Elbasiouny, Jenna E. Schuster

Neuroscience, Cell Biology & Physiology Faculty Publications

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by selective and progressive degeneration of motoneurons (MNs). Although the etiology of the disease is unknown, glutamate toxicity and reactive oxygen species toxicity have been strongly implicated in ALS pathophysiology, Training exercise has been proposed to provide a beneficial therapy during the early or late stages of ALS; however, some studies showed deleterious effects of exercise on survival in ALS.

Astrocytes From The Contused Spinal Cord Inhibit Oligodendrocyte Differentiation Of Adult Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells By Increasing The Expression Of Bone Morphogenetic Proteins, Yaping Wang, Xiaoxin Cheng, Qian He, Yiyan Zheng, Dong H Kim, Scott R Whittemore, Qilin L Cao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Promotion of remyelination is an important therapeutic strategy to facilitate functional recovery after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs) or oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) has been used to enhance remyelination after SCI. However, the microenvironment in the injured spinal cord is inhibitory for oligodendrocyte (OL) differentiation of NSCs or OPCs. Identifying the signaling pathways that inhibit OL differentiation in the injured spinal cord could lead to new therapeutic strategies to enhance remyelination and functional recovery after SCI. In the present study, we show that reactive astrocytes from the injured rat spinal cord or their conditioned …

Effect Of Animal Facility Construction On Basal Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal And Renin-Aldosterone Activity In The Rat, Hershel Raff, Eric D. Bruder, William E. Cullinan, Dana R. Ziegler, Eric P. Cohen

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Nearby construction can cause subtle, but important activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in laboratory rats.

Although loud noise and intense vibration are known to alter the behavior and phenotype of laboratory animals, little is known about the effects of nearby construction. We studied the effect of a nearby construction project on the classic stress hormones ACTH, corticosterone, renin, and aldosterone in rats residing in a barrier animal facility before, for the first 3 months of a construction project, and at 1 month after all construction was completed. During some of the construction, noise and vibrations were not obvious to investigators …

Differential Effects Of Dopaminergic Therapies On Dorsal And Ventral Striatum In Parkinson's Disease: Implications For Cognitive Function., Penny A Macdonald, Oury Monchi

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Cognitive abnormalities are a feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). Unlike motor symptoms that are clearly improved by dopaminergic therapy, the effect of dopamine replacement on cognition seems paradoxical. Some cognitive functions are improved whereas others are unaltered or even hindered. Our aim was to understand the effect of dopamine replacement therapy on various aspects of cognition. Whereas dorsal striatum receives dopamine input from the substantia nigra (SN), ventral striatum is innervated by dopamine-producing cells in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). In PD, degeneration of SN is substantially greater than cell loss in VTA and hence dopamine-deficiency is significantly greater in …

Posterior Reversible Encephalopathic Syndrome: Treating The Puzzling Syndrome Of Pres, Lorraine Valeriano Bsn, Rn, Cnrn

Patient Care Services / Nursing

No abstract provided.

Repeated N-Acetyl Cysteine Reduces Cocaine Seeking In Rodents And Craving In Cocaine-Dependent Humans, Shelley L. Amen, Linda B. Piacentine, Muhammad E. Ahmad, Shi-Jiang Li, John R. Mantsch, Robert C. Risinger, David A. Baker

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder hypothesized to be produced by drug-induced plasticity that renders individuals vulnerable to craving-inducing stimuli such as re-exposure to the drug of abuse. Drug-induced plasticity that may result in the addiction phenotype includes increased excitatory signaling within corticostriatal pathways that correlates with craving in humans and is necessary for reinstatement in rodents. Reduced cystine–glutamate exchange by system x_c– appears to contribute to heightened excitatory signaling within the striatum, thereby posing this as a novel target in the treatment of addiction. In the present report, we examined the impact of repeated N-acetyl cysteine, …

Activation Of The Basolateral Membrane Cl- Conductance Essential For Electrogenic K+ Secretion Suppresses Electrogenic Cl- Secretion, Quanhua He, Susan T. Halm, Jin Zhang, Dan R. Halm

Neuroscience, Cell Biology & Physiology Faculty Publications

Adrenaline activates transient Cl^--secretion and sustained K⁺-secretion across isolated distal colonic mucosa of guinea pig. The Ca⁺⁺-activated Cl^- channel inhibitor CaCCinh-A01 [30μM] significantly reduced electrogenic K⁺-secretion, detected as short-circuit current (I_sc). This inhibition supported the cell model for K⁺-secretion in which basolateral membrane Cl^- channels provide an exit pathway for Cl^- entering the cell via Na⁺/K⁺/2Cl^--cotransporters. CaCCinh-A01 inhibited both I_sc and transepithelial conductance in a concentration dependent manner, IC₅₀ = 6.3 μM. GlyH-101, another Cl^- channel …

Optimality In Neural Adaptation, Adrienne Fairhall

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Nervous systems tune themselves to the statistical structure of the stimuli they encounter. This sensitivity to statistics appears in phenomena ranging over many timescales, from the adaptation of vision to a rapid change in light level to the loss of ability to distinguish the sounds of non-native languages. While multiple neural mechanisms contribute to this on-line learning of stimulus distributions, we show that the intrinsic nonlinearities of single neurons provide them with the ability to represent time-varying stimuli optimally. While such sensitivity to stimulus statistics does not require learning, slower timescales of adaptation are consistent with optimal inference of statistical …

Patterns Of Microrna Expression In Normal And Early Alzheimer's Disease Human Temporal Cortex: White Matter Versus Gray Matter, Wang-Xia Wang, Qingwei Huang, Yanling Hu, Arnold J. Stromberg, Peter T. Nelson

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Faculty Publications

MicroRNA (miRNA) expression was assessed in human cerebral cortical gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) in order to provide the first insights into the difference between GM and WM miRNA repertoires across a range of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. RNA was isolated separately from GM and WM portions of superior and middle temporal cerebral cortex (N = 10 elderly females, postmortem interval < 4 h). miRNA profiling experiments were performed using state-of-the-art Exiqon^© LNA-microarrays. A subset of miRNAs that appeared to be strongly expressed according to the microarrays did not appear to be conventional miRNAs according to Northern blot analyses. Some well-characterized miRNAs were substantially enriched in WM …

Δ-Aminolevulinic Acid Dehydratase Single Nucleotide Polymorphism 2 And Peptide Transporter 2*2 Haplotype May Differentially Mediate Lead Exposure In Male Children, Christina Sobin, Natali Parisi, Tanner Schaub, Marisela Gutierrez, Alma Ortega

Selected Works Temporary Series

Child low-level lead (Pb) exposure is an unresolved public health problem and an unaddressed child health disparity. Particularly in cases of low-level exposure, source removal can be impossible to accomplish, and the only practical strategy for reducing risk may be primary prevention. Genetic biomarkers of increased neurotoxic risk could help to identify small subgroups of children for early intervention. Previous studies have suggested that, by way of a distinct mechanism, d-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase single nucleotide polymorphism 2 (ALAD2) and/or peptide transporter 2*2 haplotype (hPEPT2*2) increase Pb blood burden in children. Studies have not yet examined whether sex mediates the effects …

How Loss Of Neurofibromin In Oligodendrocytes Affects The Brain, Debra A. Mayes, Tilat A. Rizvi, Nathan T. Kolasinski, S. Miller, Nancy Ratner

Neuroscience, Cell Biology & Physiology Faculty Publications

Neurofibromatosis type 1 patients are predisposed to central nervous system (CNS) phenotypes including enlarged brains, delayed acquisition of motor skills, brain tumors, and cognitive deficits. Imaging and pathologic analysis suggest that changes in white matter myelination may underlie both the enlargement of white matter tracts that contributes to megancephaly, and/or hyper-intense signals visualized on MRI. To study the role(s) of Nf1 and HRasin oligodendrocytes, we examined the optic nerve and corpus callosum,myelinated fiber tracts.We studiedNf1heterozygous mice,tamoxifen-induced Nf1 loss in mature oligodendrocytes (Plp-CreERT), and a new transgenic model in which the CNPase promoter drives expression of HRasG12V. Activated HRas and loss …