Seminars & Events
Monday, February 11, 2013: Dr. Daphne Soares (University of Maryland College Park) will speak on "The Sensory World of Cavefishes" at 4:45 pm in Goodpaster Hall 195.
Monday, March 4, 2013: Dr. Joe Cheer (University of Maryland Baltimore) will speak on "Endogenous Cannabinoids and the Pursuit of Reward" at 4:45 pm in Goodpaster Hall 195.
Friday, April 12, 2013: Dr. Jill McGaughy (University of New Hampshire) will speak on "The Role of Cortical Norepinephrine in the Ontogeny of Executive Function" at 3:00 pm in Schaefer Hall 106.
Alumni Highlight
Dr. Erin Johnson '02 recently received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and was inducted as an alumni member of Nu Rho Psi.
SMP Spotlight
Ron Saul, "Chronic activation of the substantia nigra nociceptin/orphanin receptor induces motor deficits similar to Parkinson's disease," 2008. Saul, the 2008 winner of the Neuroscience Award, infused a drug into the substantia nigra of rats and measured the resulting motor behaviors, mood disturbances, and cognitive abilities.
Chaudhary, Sheena (2010). Long-term Effects of Adolescent Antipsychotic Drug Treatment on Reward-related Behavior and Cognition Functioning in Adult Rats. (Mentor: A. Bailey)
Abstract
Antipsychotic drugs, such as the atypical drug olanzapine, are used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Olanzapine acts on the dopamine system and is usually administered during adolescence, when schizophrenia is typically diagnosed. However, it is unknown if drug administration during neuronal development will result in long term changes in the brain and behavior. Twenty-one Long-Evans animals were used and were treated with olanzapine during adolescence for a period of 21 days (PD28-PD49). When tested in adulthood for reward sensitivity with a progressive ratio task (PR), an FR 5choice task, and tested for cognition with a set-shifting task, control and olanzapine animals did not show significant differences in behavior. Olanzapine animals did appear to have potential differences in spatial processing as measured by the set-shifting task. However, there was a trend present indicating that olanzapine animals gave up sooner and were not as motivated for food rewards as compared to the control animals in both the PR and FR5 choice tasks.
