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.
Rowlands, Abby (2010). Effects of Isolation Rearing on the Motivational Properties of Cocaine in the Conditioned Place Preference Test. Mentor: Dr. Anne Marie Brady
Abstract
The current study is based on the dual diagnosis model of schizophrenia and addiction. The high prevalence of the comorbidity of schizophrenia and addiction has drawn the attention of much recent research. The mesolimbic dopamine pathway, a neural pathway implicated in addiction, has been shown to be dysfunctional in individuals with schizophrenia both drug abusing and non-abusing. The primary goal of the current research was to investigate the effects of isolation rearing on prepulse inhibition and the motivational properties of cocaine. Isolation rearing was used as a neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia while conditioned place preference (CPP) was used to investigate reward-seeking behaviors. Subjects included 20 male Sprague Dawley rats which were divided into two housing conditions, social (n =10) and isolate (n=10), for six weeks. Rats were then tested on prepulse inhibition (PPI) and cocaine CPP. Results did not support the hypotheses that rats reared in isolation would show deficits in PPI relative to animals housed in social conditions. While it was also expected that isolation reared animals would show a stronger preference for the drug as shown by greater time spent in the drug-paired room, results showed no interaction between time spent in room and housing condition. Future research should look to further investigate the pairing of isolation rearing and CPP, as well as the use of cocaine in the CPP model.
