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Oct 26, 2024 | 
scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Marc Jones |Scott C. Steffensen |Brigham Young
Keywordselectrically-coupled GABA neurons, arousal-related electocortical activityCollegeFamily, Home, and Social SciencesAbstractIn order to evaluate potential correlations between VTA GABA neurons and electrocortical activity, we studied electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in freely-behaving rats during different stages of their sleep-wake cycle.
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Oct 26, 2024 | 
scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Scott C. Steffensen |Brigham Young
Keywordsneurophysiological substrates, alcohol addiction, brain substratesCollegeFamily, Home, and Social SciencesAbstractResearch in my lab is dedicated to the elucidation of brain substrates underlying drug addiction. Elder Boyd K. Packer has stated, “It is my conviction, and my constant prayer, that there will come through research, through inspiration to scientists if need be, the power to conquer narcotic addiction through the same means which cause it.”(Packer 1989).
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Oct 26, 2024 | 
scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Peter Nielson |Scott C. Steffensen |Brigham Young
Keywordsnicotine, plasticity, glutamate neurotransmission, midbrain GABA neuronsCollegeFamily, Home, and Social SciencesAbstractIn order to further the knowledge of physiological contributions to addiction, this project’s purpose was to elucidate the neuronal processes involved in nicotine (NIC) addiction. We studied its effects on critical neuronal substrates in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), an area of the midbrain implicated in drug reinforcement.
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Oct 26, 2024 | 
scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Samuel D. Shin |Scott C. Steffensen |Brigham Young
Keywordsgap junctions, seizures, mice, hippocampusCollegeFamily, Home, and Social SciencesAbstractSeizures are a disease that inflict millions with no reliable treatment or cure. One of the main difficulties behind treating seizures is the uncertainty behind the cause. In previous studies we performed we found that connexin-36 (Cx36) knockout (KO) mice may respond differently to stimuli that illicit seizures.
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Oct 26, 2024 | 
scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Stuart Thomas |Scott C. Steffensen |Brigham Young
Keywordslow-dose alcohol, self-administration, rats, ventral tegmental area, GABA neuronsCollegeFamily, Home, and Social SciencesAbstractEach year, more and more people become the slaves of addiction to narcotics, alcohol, and nicotine. These addictions destroy families and ruin lives. The brain’s chemistry is influenced by these drugs. This study aimed to evaluate how alcohol and other drugs affect the brain’s chemistry and identify potential avenues for therapy.
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Oct 26, 2024 | 
scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Cary S. Crall |Scott C. Steffensen |Brigham Young
Keywordscolor processing, addicts seeing blue, opiate abuse, substance abuseCollegeFamily, Home, and Social SciencesAbstractOpiate use in Utah has grown faster than that of any other substance in the past year (Duda, 2008). In 2007, total opiate abuse (e.g., heroin, Oxycodones, etc.) accounted for 15.3% of overall substance abuse in male clients and 18.1% in female clients (see Payne, 2007). [I’m expecting you to say what the usage rates are in 2010 (or at least 2009) here.].
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Oct 26, 2024 | 
scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Jordan Davies |Scott C. Steffensen |Brigham Young
Keywords brain stimulation, clinical addiction treatment, light stimulation, dopamine neurons College Family, Home, and Social Sciences Abstract The goal in my proposal was to study the effects of light stimulation in human brains on the action of the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) within the nucleus accumbens (NAc), in order to determine its efficacy as a non-invasive method for inducing long-term potentiation of dopamine neurons, restoring homeostasis, and its possible use in clinical...
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Oct 26, 2024 | 
scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Scott C. Steffensen |Brigham Young |Stuart Layton
Keywordsanesthesia, ventral tegmental area, VTA GABA, Wistar ratsCollegeFamily, Home, and Social SciencesAbstractConsciousness has perplexed neuroscientists for decades. What is consciousness and how is it obstructed by anesthesia? Every year doctors expose thousands of people to general anesthesia.
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Oct 26, 2024 | 
scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Stephanie Sandoval |Scott C. Steffensen |Brigham Young
Keywordschronic ethanol, VTA GABA neurons, addiction, drug rewardCollegeFamily, Home, and Social SciencesAbstractThe mesocortico limbic system is implicated in drug reward. An important substrate underlying chronic effects of ethanol on Dopamine (DA) neurotransmission in the mesolimbic pathway is gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA)(Ludlow et al. 2009).
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Oct 26, 2024 | 
scholarsarchive.byu.edu | Brian Hoyt |Scott C. Steffensen |Brigham Young
Keywordschronic alcohol intoxication, dopaminergic reward pathway, isoflouraneCollegeFamily, Home, and Social SciencesAbstractMy research project studied the effects of chronic alcohol intoxication on the brain’s pleasure center (the mesocorticolimbic system). I worked with JungJae Park (M.S. in neuroscience) and three other undergraduate students. Because rats dislike the taste of alcohol, we injected the alcohol directly into their abdominal cavity.
