Expts

A list of experiments in progress:

6/23/09 Effects of 5.0mg/kg Scopolamine before saccharin paired with 36 mg/kg LiCl (expt GD)

A.-M. Torregrossa, L. Carella

6/19/09 Effects of 0.5 and 1.0mg/kg Scopolamine before saccaharin paired with 14.1T Magnet (expt GC)

L. Carella, A.M. Torregrossa, J. Smith

6/18/09 Head Movements Upside Down in the 14T Magnet (expt QB)

A.-M. Torregrossa, J. Smith

5/14/09 Head Movements in the 14T Magnet (expt QA)

J.Cassell, J. Smith

5/09 - 6/09 Fructose-Glucose Mixture preference curve in Hotel (expt GR)

J.Cassell, J. Smith

5/09-8/09 Methylation of c-Fos Promoter

T. Alcala

4/09- 5/09 Preference after Pre-exposure to non-nutritive Kool-aid (expt AD)

A. Kimbrough

4/5/09 Dose Response Curve of Scopolamine pretreatment prior to 14T magnet exposure (expt GB)

G. O'Neal-Moffitt, Brian Neff J. Cassell, B. S. Kwon

4/5/09 More piloting of Videotape inside the 14T magnet with mirrors and fiber optics

2/28/09 More piloting of Videotape of Head Movements while inside the 14T magnet

G. O'Neal-Moffitt, Brian Neff, L. Carella, J. Smith,

2/27/09 Scopolamine pretreatment prior to 14T magnet exposure (expt GA)

G. O'Neal-Moffitt, Brian Neff, L. Carella, J. Smith

11/08 - 12/08 Sucrose preference curve in Hotel (expt SR)

J.Cassell, J. Smith

10/22/08 Videotape of Head Movements while inside the 14T magnet

10/22/08 Lowered into, Raised out of the 14T Magnet (expt PY)

G. O'Neal-Moffitt, L. Carella, A. Muller, Brian Neff, J. Smith

10/21/08 Fast Entry into, Slow Exit from the 14T Magnet (expt PX)

G. O'Neal-Moffitt, L. Carella, A. Muller, Brian Neff, J. Smith

10/08 Single Bottle conditioning of Flavor-Glucose Preference (expt AB)

A. Kimborough, R. Davenport

Rats given 48-h access to 1 bottle water and 1 bottle CS+ kool-aid, 0.05% saccharin, and 8% glucose. The tested for 14 x 24 h with 2 bottles, CS+kool-aid or CS- koolaid mixed with 0.05% saccharin only.

9/08 - 10/08 Fructose preference curve in Hotel (expt FR)

J. Cassell, J. Smith

Replication of Smith's sucrose concentration curve in 24-h, 2 bottle tests (fructose vs. water). Each week rats given 5 x 24-h access to one concentration of fructose and water in Smith's hotel. (Food jar access and number licks per 6-s bins recorded). Concentration of fructose increased each week.

9/08 Kool-aid carbohydrate preferences (expt AA)

A. Kimborough, R. Davenport

Figure out prefered carbohydrate using 24-h, 4-bottle tests with 4 kool-aid flavors mixed with either saccharin (0.2%), or 8% fructose, glucose, or maltodextin in 0.05% saccharin. Tested for 4 x 24h periods. On second week, tested for 4x 24h periods with 4 bottles, each containing 1 of 4 kool-aid flavors mixed with just saccharin (0.05%).

9/08 - 10/08 DNA methylation in rat tissues

T. Alcala, with help from B.S. Kwon, G. Moffit, and A. Kimborough

6 tissues dissected from adult male rats (tail adrenal gland, kidney, liver, lung, and cerebral cortex). DNA extracted, and patterns of methylation of c-Fos promoter will be analyzed.

2/29 -3/1/08 Fill-in of CW/CCW whole-body rotation while in the magnet (expt PW)

A. Muller, D. Gonzalez, L. Carrella, J. Smith

n=16, 4 x CW, 4 x CCW while in magnet; 4 x CW, 4 xCCW in sham magnet

2/29 -3/1/08 Very slow entry into the magnet (expt PV)

A. Muller, D. Gonzalez, L. Carrella, J. Smith

n=8 at 1 cm/s(?)

There is no expt PU

2/29 -3/1/08 Test of big new arena (expt PT)

A. Muller, D. Gonzalez, L. Carrella, J. Smith.

Meet at 730am on Friday. Smith, Houpt, & Carella have class/meetings at Friday at 10-11am. n= 8 rats with 30 min at 14.1 T. Label rats on head and flanks with big red and blue dots for computer visualization.

11/18/07 Effects of Whole Body Rotation on Mouse Swimming

T. Houpt, CBC Erquiaga (C Houpt, analysis)

Male mice C57B/J (DOB: 9-5-07, arr: 11-8-07) were restrained in 50ml conical tubes then rotated at 50cm radius at 60 RPM for 10 min in either clockwise or counter clockwise direction, then placed immediately in swimming pool and videotaped for 2 minutes. After swimming, placed under heat lamp until dry. Mice were double-housed, odd numbered mice marked with red marker on the tail.

11/16-18/07 One-month pre-exposure replication (continued) (expt PQ PR & PS)

A. Muller, D. Gonzalez, L. Carrella, J. Smith

10/07 Circadian variation in GluR1-4 subunits in rat olfactory bulb

J. Corthell, P. Trombley, B.S. Kwon

10/07 Estrogen regulation of TPH2 expression in ovariectomized rats

H. Rivera, L. Eckel

9/21-22/07 One-month pre-exposure replication (expt PP)

A. Muller, D. Gonzalez, J. Smith

Nondeprived female rats PP1-8 exposed for 30 min to 14.1 T on Friday and Saturday, circling recorded for 2 min afterwards. Rats PP9-16 were sham exposed for 30 min and recorded. Final conditioning day exposure with taste aversion will be given in October or November. (Rats PP17-32 will get two pre-exposures immediately before conditioning day in Oct or Nov.)

PP5 on first day is very good circler!

6/21-22/07 Moving fast or slow into magnet (Expt PM & PN)

K. Muller, A. Muller, I. Janowitz, Smith

Rats were given 10 min 0.125% saccharin, then raised into the magnet quickly (72 cm/sec) or slowing (16 cm/sec), left for 30 min, then removed at same speed.

PM1-8 = fast moving

PM9-12 = sham exposure

PN1-8 = slow moving

PN9-12 = sham exposure

6/21/07 More Up-Down magnet exposure (Expt PO)

K. Muller, A. Muller, I. Janowitz, Smith

Inserted into and removed from the magnet 5x in a row (i.e. with rats were not left in the center of the magnet more than momentarily).

5/30/07 Mouse swimming at 40 min, 120 min, 360 min post-magnet exposure

Houpt, Houpt

5/30/07 More Up-Down magnet exposure (Expt PL)

K. Muller, A. Muller, I. Janowitz, Smith

PL1-4 = 15 min up, 15 min down

PL5-8 = 15 min down, 15 min up

PL 9-12 = 30 min up, inserted 5x

PL13-17 = sham 30 min, inserted 5x

PL21 = 30 min up (but delayed because of mag maintanence)

PL22-25 = 30 min up, inserted 5x

PL26-32 = 30 min up

5/1/07 Intra-amygdalar APV and Conditioned Flavor-Taste Preference (Expt GN)

Golden

5/1/07 CTA induced by all-trans retinoic acid (Expt DH)

Houpt (first run with Hazen, Hood)

5/1/07 CTA induced by DMSO (Expt DG)

Houpt

5/1/07 Histone acetylation during CTA acquistion

Kwon

4/07 Balance beam walking after magnet exposure"'

Smith, Ortega, Janowitz, Muller.

4/07 Mouse swimming at 24 h, 96 h post-magnet exposure

Houpt, Houpt

2/17/07 Up-Down magnet exposure (Expt PK)

Smith, Ortega, Janowitz, Muller. To test the effects of combining head-up exposure and head-down exposure (i.e. does combined exposure cancel out magnet effects?). After 10 days on water restriction, female rats (n= 24) will get 10-min acccess to 0.125% saccharin and then be exposed to 14.1T or sham exposed. There are 5 groups: Group MUD (n=4) will be placed in the magnet head-up for 15 min, removed, and put back in the magnet for 15 min head down. Group MDU (n=4) will be placed in the magnet head-down for 15 min, removed, and put back in the magnet for 15 min head up. Two control groups (SUD and SDU, n=4 each) will be sham-exposed in parallel to groups MUD and MDU. As a positive control, rats in group MUU (n= 8) will be placed in the magnet head up for 15 min, removed, and placed back in the magnet head-up again for another 15 min. Water restriction began on 2-17-07; conditioning day will be 2-28-07.

2/17/07 More one-day adaptation to magnet exposure (Expt PJ)

Smith, Ortega, Janowitz, Muller. Follow-up experiment to Expt PH. After 10 days on water restriction, female rats are exposed 3 times for 30 min all on the same day; the last exposure is paired with 10min access to 0.125% saccharin. There are 3 groups, n=4/group. Group MMM gets 2x30min 14.1T exposure, then saccharin paired with 30 min at 14.1T. Group SSM gets 2x30min of sham exposure, then saccharin paired with 30 min at 14.1T. Group SSS ets 2x30min of sham exposure, then saccharin paired with 30 min sham exposure. All rats videotaped for 2 min after all exposures. Day after conditioning, 2-bottle preference tests begin. Water restriction began on 2-17-07; conditioning day will be 2-27-07.

1/25/07 Serine Racemase and NR2B in situ hybridization

Davenport. Pilot examination of SR and NR2B mRNA expression in gustatory cortex and amygdala. One rat given ~16-h access to 0.125% saccharin, control rat just water. Results: Serine Racemase worked great, NR2B showed no label at all. No aspparente effect of saccharin access. Follow-up: Will examine effects of NMDA drug treatments on serine racemase expression, and try relabeling NR probe.

1/15/07 Extinction of saccharin and NaCl-LiCl CTA in female rats (Expt PI)

Smith, Ortega, Janowitz, Muller. Folow-up experiment to "stacked rats" paper, as suggested by reviewer. After saccharin-magnet pairing, CTA in female rats does not readily extinguish. This expt tests 2 different CS's (saccharin vs. NaCl) using a different US (LiCl). Female rats (n=32) will be conditioned against either 0.125% saccharin or 0.45% NaCl (10 min access) paired with LiCl (12 ml/kg) immediately after CS. Results: both LiCl treated groups showed a significant aversion, but there was no apparent extinction in either group.

1/8/07 Sucrose/NaCl CTA two-bottle discrimination (Expt SO)

Ortega. Follow-up experiment to experiment SN, which is follow-up to Howard's taste specificity in short-term CTA. Male rats (n=12) will be conditioned against 5% sucrose or 75 mM NaCl paired with LiCl (12 ml/kg) immediately after access, then given two bottle preference tests: Sucr vs NaCl, Sucr vs water, and NaCl vs water. Results: Rats showed clear discrimination such that CS- was preferred over CS+ and water for both sucrose and NaCl. There was a funny order effect in Sucrose CTA rats, however, in that if first tested with Sucr vs NaCl (i.e. before a sucrose v water and NaCl v water tests), the Sucrose CTA rats did not drink either sucrose or NaCl.

1/5/07 GLP-1 and Serine Racemase RT-PCR

Davenport, Ortega. From male sprague-dawley rat, dissected gustatory cortex, cerebellum, hypothalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus/cortex for RNA extraction by Trizol. Will perform RT-PCR for serine racemase (RD) and GLP-1R receptors (BO). Results: The serine racemase Rt-PCR worked great, the GLP-1R did not. Will redesign the primers for future experiment.

12/06-2/07 c-Fos induction after Conditioned Flavor-Taste Preference Expression

Golden, Ortega, Kwon (taught COC). Rats given a CFTP by several days of 24-h access to kool-aid, alternating solutions in high concentration saccharin (preferred, CS+/US+) or low concentration of saccharin (non-preferred, CS+/US-.) CFTP is tested by 24-h 2-bottle preference between CS+/US- vs CS-/US-. Intraoral catheters were implanted. After 3 days of water infusions, rats were infused (10 ml /10 min)with either US-, US+, CS+/US-, or CS-/US-. One hour later, rats were prefused. Olfactory bulb, gustatory cortex, amygdala, PBN, and NTS were processed for c-Fos.

11/06-2/07 Swimming in Circles induced by Magnetic Field Exposure in Mice

CE Houpt, Smith (asst by Ortega, Janowitz, Muller) Male mice (C57/BlJ) were restrained and exposed 3 at a time to 14.1 T magnetic field for 30-min, or sham-exposed. Mice were then placed in center of a 2-m diameter swimming pool for a 2-min swim test. Magnet and sham-exposed mice were tested 0, 10, or 20 min after the end of restraint. Magnet-exposed mice and 0-min sham-exposed mice were retested at 24-h to detect persistent deficits in swimming. CEH working on Mac application to quantify rotation of mice from quicktime video.