1999 — 2003 |
Moore, Paul Huber, Robert |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
The Behavioral Mechanisms of Hierarchy Formation and the Neurochemical Correlates of Aggression and Dominance in Crayfish @ Bowling Green State University
Animal Behavior Program Nontechnical Abstract
Proposal #: 9874608 PI: Huber, Robert Title: The behavioral mechanisms of hierarchy formation and the neurochemical correlates of aggression and dominance in crayfish
Hierarchical social structures are a widespread phenomenon in species ranging from anemones to humans and yet the behavioral processes that produce them remain poorly understood. This comprehensive study of dominance relationships will use crayfish to explore how animals modify their behavior in the context of aggressive interactions. This work will first characterize how previous fighting success modifies an organism's subsequent behavior in paired encounters. Since it is not intuitively obvious how relationships between such pairs develop into a complex social web in larger groups of animals, computer simulations of 'virtual' crayfish will explore more complex social structures. Predictions arising from these models will then be tested using real crayfish.
Results from this project should provide considerable insight into the complex associations that exist between different levels of organization, including sensory processes, dispositions for aggression, dominance status, and brain chemistry. Given the theoretical significance, evolutionary importance, and broad taxonomic spread of aggression, elucidating the mechanisms of formation and maintenance of dominance in these 'lower' animals will lead to a better understanding of the laws which govern social behavior. Results from this research may also have implications for the development of pharmaceuticals for the control of affective states, and for psychologists investigating the role of past experience in aggressive behavior.
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1 |
2000 — 2001 |
Bullerjahn, George [⬀] Gavini, Nara Geusz, Michael (co-PI) [⬀] Mckay, Robert (co-PI) [⬀] Huber, Robert |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Acquisition of Molecular Imaging and Plate Reading Systems @ Bowling Green State University
Abstract Bullerjahn
To enhance ongoing research activities in the departments of Biological Sciences and Chemistry at Bowling Green State University, a molecular imaging system, and a multifunction plate reader will be placed in common lab facilities shared by the two departments. The laboratories of seven major users will use the instruments. Molecular imagers analyze radioactive, fluorescent and luminescent samples, yielding linear data over a wide dynamic range. The imager will be used to visualize and quantify electrophoretic mobility shift assays, western blots, RNase protection assays, northern blots, sequencing gels, and DNA footprints. A multifunction plate reader capable of photometric, fluorescence and luminescence modes with adequate software for data analysis and storage will be used on similar projects.
The molecular imaging system will be used in several very diverse projects, such as quantitation of ferredoxin and flavodoxin levels in metal-limited phytoplankton by western blotting; functional analyses of Fur-type repressor-operator interactions; northern/western analyses of mRNA and protein levels in brain cells comprising the circadian pacemaker; quantitiation of western blots of hybrid Nif proteins involved in nitrogenase expression and assembly; assessing protein phosphorylation of ErbB3 receptors in; characterizing transcription of genes involved in crayfish monoamine synthesis; and quantifying by gel electrophoresis RNA-RNA interactions in model systems optimized for determining binding constants. The projects employing the plate reader are studies parallel to those employing the molecular imager, and such work includes screening cyanobacterial promoter fusions by luciferase-dependent luminescence; using such promoter fusions in a cyanobacterial-based metal biosensor assay; determining phosphate nutrient status in phytoplankton by assaying alkaline phosphatase activity; measuring interacting Nif proteins by a beta-galactosidase assay; and quantifying cAMP and cGMP levels following activation of oocytes bearing the AT2 receptor by angiotensin II.
Given the diversity of the research projects described above, the award will provide direct benefits to the widest possible spectrum of research projects at BGSU. The instrumentation will provide analytical tools currently not available on campus, thus the immediate impact will be Improved data acquisition for the PI, co-PIs and major users. Such benefits will allow these faculty to make more rapid progress on their funded research projects. The instrumentation will also be available to other scientists on campus, thus yielding an improved environment for research and training of graduate and undergraduate students.
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1 |
2000 |
Huber, Robert |
R03Activity Code Description: To provide research support specifically limited in time and amount for studies in categorical program areas. Small grants provide flexibility for initiating studies which are generally for preliminary short-term projects and are non-renewable. |
Neurochemical Correlates of Social Status in Crayfish @ Bowling Green State Univ Bowling Green
This proposal aims to extend our behavioral studies of dominance status in crayfish to a search for neurochemical correlates. Hierarchical structures are remarkably similar in social groups ranging from molluscs to humans with individuals embedded in an often linear arrangement of social ranks. Individual characteristics such as size or stamina define the initial states but final ranks are acquired and reinforced through self- structuring processes. Changes in behavior that result from wins or losses play an essential role where winning encourages further success and losses lead to further losses. A behavioral characterization in systems ranging from social insects to children at day-care centers has lead to a new understanding of the fundamental principles that organize the acquisition and defense of social status. The proximate mechanisms of these winner/loser effects, however, are neither well understood nor intuitively obvious. Instances of neurochemical plasticity have been reported in the context of aggressive state, dominance, winning, or social status, but a consistent picture has yet to emerge with regard to the main substances of interest, the sign and magnitude of such effects, or their time course. Crayfish hierarchies, a naturally simple model system, are uniquely suited for such work: status is determined by dyadic and directly observable, stereotyped behaviors; aggressive state and physical superiority are the main determinants of dominance; no coalitions exist; and strong winner and loser effects lead to linear hierarchies via self-structuring. Our current work on the behavioral effects of wins and losses generates detailed behavioral profiles for several hundred individuals, including estimates of initial aggressive state, the types of fighting strategies used, readiness for retreat, and changes in all of these over time as dominance develops. Neurochemical feed-back loops involving amines and steroids are likely candidates for the behavioral re-enforcement mechanisms and determinants of rank. We can now apply our expertise in the analyses of dynamic phenomena to the functioning of neuromodulatory and neurohormonal systems in individuals with known behavior. Specifically, we will evaluate whether changes in behavior are accompanied by shifts in neurochemical function. Our main effort will focus on amines and ecdysteroids in the CNS or hemolymph, and we plan to develop the groundwork for a future R01 focusing on changes in gene expression of key enzymes and receptors. Multiple levels of organization are readily accessible in this model system. It thus offers unique opportunities for exploring the nature of neurochemical changes at a level of analysis that is difficult to achieve in more complex mammalian systems. Results from this work will allow us to refine and focus the search for neurochemical correlates of social status in vertebrates.
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0.875 |
2004 — 2006 |
Huber, Robert |
R21Activity Code Description: To encourage the development of new research activities in categorical program areas. (Support generally is restricted in level of support and in time.) |
Ethopharmacological Characterization of Reward Systems @ Bowling Green State Univ Bowling Green
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Models of addiction have been essential for uncovering the neurobiological factors associated with drug-seeking behavior. In addition to the use of typical mammalian models, development of simplified systems for the study of addiction may contribute significant new experimental opportunities for an analysis of widely conserved underlying neural processes. The increased inclusion of invertebrate models for the study of fundamental phenomena is also consistent with current goals and guidelines in the ethics of animal use. In recent work, we have demonstrated that drugs of abuse are associated with rewarding properties for place-conditioning in crayfish. The experimental advantages of crayfish include a relatively simple and accessible CNS organization, and sets of conspicuous, stereotyped behavior patterns amenable to effective quantitative analysis. This grant aims to develop initial findings into a robust model for the study of drug-reward with a characterization (1) of drug-induced changes in locomotion and amine hemolymph release, (2) of sensitization and dose-response relationships in a place conditioning paradigm, and (3) of an automated, operant self-administration paradigm. Successful completion will allow us to advance a novel experimental system of drug-reward. With multiple levels of organization readily accessible, a detailed characterization of this intriguing behavioral phenomenon in a species not particularly known for its cognitive abilities will provide a unique, comparative ethological perspective on the neural substrates responsive to drugs of abuse, the nature of reward mechanisms, drug-seeking, and motivated behaviors in general. In sum, the continued development of novel experimental paradigms, such as those described here, promise to provide new insights into the evolutionarily derived neurochemical systems from which human drug addictions stem.
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0.875 |