Depression and anxiety are often characterized by altered reward-seeking and avoidance, respectively. Yet less is known about the relationship between depressive symptoms and specific avoidance behaviors. To address this gap, we conducted two studies. In Study 1, undergraduates and online workers completed an uninstructed go/no-go avoidance task ( N Total = 465) as a reverse translation of a rodent paradigm. Participants exhibited a wide range of symptom scores on the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), ranging from low to severe. In Study 1, cues were used to signal the response type (go/active vs no-go/inhibitory) required to avoid an aversive sound. Higher depressive scores were associated with poorer acquisition of active avoidance in undergraduates. Overall participants showed lower accuracy for active than inhibitory avoidance. To examine whether the better no-go trial performance reflected a prepotent response to avoid aversive outcomes, in Study 2, undergraduates ( N Total = 330) completed a ver...

High-level spinal cord injury (SCI) often reduces neural regulation of cardiovascular function. During the chronic phase, humoral regulation via the renin–angiotensin system (RAS) is enhanced to compensatorily maintaining blood pressure. It was recently shown that transplanting early-stage neurons into the injured cord mitigates cardiovascular disorders. However, the mechanisms underlying this recovery remain largely unknown. Here, we employed various pharmacological interventions to elucidate whether this strategic transplantation affects the imbalance of neuroendocrine regulation of hemodynamics and the role of specific serotonergic and catecholaminergic components. Female rats received a complete crush at the fourth thoracic spinal cord. Embryonic neural progenitor cells (NPCs) harvested from the raphe nuclei or the spinal cord were transplanted into the lesion. Naive rats or injury alone served as controls. After 8–9 weeks, radio-telemetric recordings demonstrated that both implants decreased tachycard...

Given the observed interaction and reports of oxytocin, μ-opioid receptor, or κ-opioid receptor expression in brain regions important to emotion regulation (i.e., the central amygdala), we hypothesized that oxytocin ( oxtr ), μ-opioid ( oprm1 ), and κ-opioid ( oprk1 ) receptor mRNA were colocalized to the same cells in the central amygdala. RNAscope in situ hybridization performed on fresh-frozen coronal brain sections was used to label cells containing oxtr , oprm1 , and/or oprk1 . The coronal sections were imaged using a 40× objective (widefield fluorescence) on a Leica Thunder fluorescent microscope, and the images were processed using open-source ImageJ/Fiji software and analyzed using the Imaris software. The central amygdala was identified using Paxinos and Watson's The Mouse Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates ( [Paxinos and Franklin, 2019][1]). Eight distinct cell populations were enumerated (i.e., oxtr -only, oprm1 -only, oprk1 -only, oxtr  +  oprm1 -only, oxtr  +  oprk1 -only, oprm1  +  oprk1 -only,...

Understanding the roles of astrocytic calcium signaling in multiple brain regulatory mechanisms including metabolism, blood flow, neuromodulation, and neuroinflammation has remained one of the enduring challenges in glial biology. To delineate astrocytic contribution from concurrent neuronal activity, it is vital to establish robust control and manipulate astrocytes using a technique like optogenetics due to its high cellular specificity and temporal resolution. The lack of an experimental paradigm to induce controlled calcium signaling in astrocytes has hindered progress in the field. To address this, in this study, we systematically characterize and identify light stimulation paradigms for inducing regulated, on-demand increases in astrocytic calcium in acute brain slice cortical astrocytes from MlC1-ChR2(C128S)-EYFP mice (of either sex). We identified paradigms 20, 40 and 60% (of T  = 100 s) to elicit robust calcium responses upon periodic stimulations, while the 95% paradigm exhibited a response only d...

Four years ago, in my second year of graduate school, I wrote about coping with failure as a graduate student. I was frustrated I couldn’t answer scientific questions because I was spending all of my time trying to get basic techniques to work. Since then, I continued to experience disappointment, both in and out of the lab. I’ve recently been reflecting on what I would now tell my younger self, and I’m sharing those thoughts in the hope that they might help someone else. Let yourself grieve. When we experience disappointment, there’s a sharp emotional response. That response has to pass before we can evaluate what happened and decide what to do next. The first few times we’re disappointed, it takes a long time to process and dispel our negative feelings. Eventually, we begin to heal from disappointment faster. We can’t force rational processes onto emotion – emotions happen in their own time, through a system older and deeper than our executive functioning. But we can understand how our own feelings work and create space for them to happen and to minimize the damage they inflict on our lives. That can mean taking an afternoon or day to sulk after a frustrating experiment or “not discussed” grant application. The pain will eventually subside, and then you can think. And each time, with each disappointment, the cycle will get shorter.

Recent studies in the field of neuroscience illustrate the importance of creativity across our life spans. Using examples such as ballet lessons before kindergarten, band practice in college, and music therapy following a stroke, among others, this Public Advocacy Forum panel explore how and why the arts influence us so deeply and how we can use creativity to be healthier and more productive throughout our lives.

After watching the video below, join us February 10th at 1:00pm for a live chat on the Neuronline Community and learn about the ways you can incorporate more sustainable practices in your work, and ask your questions on how to help move the field towards an environmentally friendly framework This special interest event from the FENS (Federation of European Neuroscience Societies) 2020 Virtual Forum offered an opportunity to discuss what scientists can do to adopt a more sustainable model for life sciences. The organizers presented the results of a small survey performed among neuroscientists and their research institutes to trigger discussion and start identifying solutions regarding the environmental footprint of the life science community. A panel of academics, activists, and life science industry representatives, among others, shared their viewpoints and experiences implementing concrete actions towards an environmentally friendly life science framework. Learn more and check out the conversations in the video (above or below). Organized by FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence (FKNE).

This playlist walks through the entire process of deciding when to write, how to write, and where to publish your manuscript. Verity Brown, editor-in-chief of Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, discusses many helpful tips and tricks that these videos can help any neuroscientist learn new things about getting published.

Material below summarizes the article, Vibrational Detection of Odorant Functional Groups by Drosophila Melanogaster, published on October 26, 2017, in eNeuro and authored by Klio Maniati, Katherine-Joanne Haralambous, Luca Turin, and Efthimios M.C. Skoulakis. We are interested in tests that could help decide between the vibrational theory of odor and the lock-and-key theory, a controversial question in the field of olfaction. Is odor character of a molecule determined by its shape or its vibrations? In a shape theory, the smell of an odorant is encoded in the shape of the odorant molecule, which in turn determines the receptors in which it fits. This is a lock-and-key theory: the shapes of both locks and keys matter to the pattern of receptor activation. Picture a thought experiment in which the shapes of the olfactory receptor binding sites are all altered, while leaving wiring identical to the brain. The receptor activation pattern will be different, and therefore odorants will be perceived to have a different smell or odor character.

Lionel Rodriguez is a neuroscience PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins. In this interview, Lionel discusses dealing with implicit bias and imposter syndrome. As a Gay, Latinx scientist, he also gives his hopes for the future of approaching discussions of equitable treatment and inclusion of historically marginalized communities in STEM.