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.
Enos, Jennifer (2008). An Attempt to Block the Expression of CS-Potentiated Feeding: Antagonizing NPY Y1 Receptors with BIBP3226.
Mentor: Dr. Anne Marie Brady
Abstract
Feeding in the presence of a conditioned stimulus (CS) or CS-potentiated feeding is a form of learned non-regulatory feeding and stimulates feeding when the energy needs of the organism are already met. The neural circuits underlying non-regulatory feeding are presently important subjects in neuroscience research because of their involvement in the development of obesity and weight gain. Disconnection of the basolateral amygdala and lateral hypothalamus has been found to block the expression of CS-potentiated feeding. NPY has also been suggested to be involved in the expression of CS-potentiated feeding. This neuropeptide has several receptors throughout the brain with the NPY Y1 receptor suggested to be the most involved in the control of feeding. In this study, rats were trained to feed in response to a 20 sec light stimulus and later infused with a highly selective NPY Y1 antagonist, BIBP3226 (1µL/min), followed by testing for CS-potentiated feeding. Rats, however, failed to express significantly more percent CR to the CS+ than the CS-. BIBP3226 infused rats did not feed significantly more when tested with the CS+ (CS-potentiated feeding) than when tested with the CS-. However, despite the absence of CS-potentiated feeding in BIBP3226 infused rats, it cannot be concluded that this is due to the antagonistic actions of this drug on the NPY Y1 receptor due to the rats’s overall failure to discriminate the CS+ over the CS- during training.
