1982 — 1986 |
Cheng, Mei-Fang |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Mechanisms of Behavioral Feedback Modulation of Endocrine System @ Rutgers University New Brunswick |
0.958 |
1986 — 1989 |
Cheng, Mei-Fang |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Behavioral Self-Feedback Control of Endocrine States @ Rutgers University New Brunswick |
0.958 |
1990 — 1997 |
Cheng, Mei-Fang |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Neurobiological Study of Vocalization @ Rutgers the State Univ of Nj Newark
The long term objective of this project is to determine the biological significance of the "non-communicative" function of vocalization and characterize the underlying physiological mechanisms. Although vocalization has traditionally been viewed as a mean of communication, recent evidence from my laboratory strongly indicates that communication also function in an integral physiological capacity. Birdsong, especially in passerine species, has long been a favored research system. The issue of learning in development of song and adaptive significance of acoustic communication are among the problems which have been addressed. The primary question of the mechanism by which the male song may influence the female's endocrine response, culminating in egg- laying, has not been studied. However, this issue has been subject of intensive study of non-songbird system. Recent findings in the study of the female ringdove (Streptopelia risoria) reproductive system has revealed an interesting dimension of vocalization which has received little attention. We have found that a bird's vocalization alters its endocrine state. What neural pathways mediate this endocrine response? Can we demonstrate this basic finding in morphological terms? Are there different circuities involved in endocrine consequence of courtship vs other vocalization such as alarm calls? In this application, I will determine and characterize the chemical features of the neural pathways which mediate the conversion of vocalization into endocrine response. In other words, we intend to demonstrate that an increased luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) release can be traced to neuronal activity in the vocal control nuclei associated with the performance of female nest calls. The proposed studies will add useful information about how acoustic inputs, especially those generated from the individual's own vocalization affect endocrine state and hence the well-being of the individual.
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0.949 |
1998 — 2000 |
Cheng, Mei-Fang |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Functional Recovery--Neurogenesis and Social Environment @ Rutgers the State Univ of Nj Newark
DESCRIPTION (adapted from applicant's abstract): The long term objective of this proposal is to investigate the underlying mechanisms of brain repair. A normal brain receives stimuli and information and responds to its environment. A damaged brain attempts the same process, but has the added task of reorganization through interactions between neurons and the immediate and external environments. Post-traumatic environmental conditions, both physical and social, can enhance or impede the brain repair process. In this proposal, experiments are proposed to explore and identify aspects of social properties that facilitate brain recovery and the role of neurogenesis in the improvement of brain function. Specifically, discrete lesions in the hypothalamus will be used to experimentally render male ring doves unable to perform courtship behaviors when initially introduced to a female. It has previously been shown that housing a male who has lesion damage with a mature female will facilitate the full recovery of courtship behavior. In experiments designed to determine which environmental factors may play a role in the reinstatement of courtship behavior, brain damaged males will be exposed to a variety of social conditions. Additionally, preliminary studies of adult ring doves strongly suggest that brain lesions dramatically increase ventricular mitotic activity. With the use of the Hu protein (a family of neuronal RNA-binding proteins) as an early marker of neuronal phenotypic differentiation, the PI plans to demonstrate that neurogenesis is promoted by brain lesions and to explicate the role of neurogenesis in brain repair. Despite a recent surge in the study of brain repair, the possible role played by neurogenesis in the recovery of function have been virtually ignored. Results of the proposed studies will address this question directly and may lead to a promising new direction for the investigation of mechanisms of brain repair after injury.
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0.949 |
2006 — 2009 |
Cheng, Mei-Fang |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Brain Damage and Recovery of Function in the Adult System @ Rutgers the State Univ of Nj Newark
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our long-term goal is to determine how to help adult victims of brain injury recover the function of brain areas damaged by stroke or other afflictions. To that end, the goal of this study is to determine the mechanisms that underlie the recovery of function after damage to the adult brain. The present proposal builds upon two conceptually complementary observations. We have observed that the recovery of complex courtship behavior (the nest coo) after bilateral hypothalamic lesion in the adult male ring dove is facilitated when a male ring dove is housed with a female. Secondly, after electrolytic lesions of the adult hypothalamus, newborn neurons were detected at the lesion site concurrent with recovery at the lesion site of units exhibiting normal firing responses to female nest coo stimulation and behavioral recovery 2-3 months after lesion. These observations suggest an alternative explanation to the widely accepted principle of recovery of function. Recovery might be mediated not only by existing, undamaged neurons, but also by lesion-induced new neurons recruited into the network of reorganization. We test the hypothesis that lesion-induced new neurons are involved in the recovery of physiological activity and nest coo behavior by blocking neurogenesis and observing the effects on recovery (Aim I) and the determining whether the new neurons are biologically functional, namely, whether they are integrated into the network of nest coo behavior. This will be tested by measuring endocrine output associated with the nest coo behavior, and by determining axonal connections of new neurons using combined immunohistochemistry of tract tracing and neuronal markers (Aim II). In sum, the present proposal seeks to determine the role of lesion-induced neurogenesis in the context of the recovery of function in the mature dove brain.
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0.949 |