A5020840126- Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
- Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
- Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Cholinesterase and Neurodegenerative Diseases
- Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms
- Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Health, Environment, Cognitive Aging
- Autophagy in Disease and Therapy
- Protein Kinase Regulation and GTPase Signaling
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research
- Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Mental Health Research Topics
University of Alabama at Birmingham
2021-2024
Rho-associated coiled-coil containing kinase isoform 2 (ROCK2) is a member of the AGC family serine/threonine kinases and an extensively studied regulator actin-mediated cytoskeleton contractility. Over past decade, new evidence has emerged that suggests ROCK2 regulates autophagy. Recent studies indicate dysregulation autophagy contributes to development misfolded tau aggregates among entorhinal cortex (EC) excitatory neurons in early Alzheimer’s disease (AD). While accumulation oligomers...
Brain connectivity arises from interactions across biophysical scales, ranging molecular to cellular anatomical network level. To date, there has been little progress toward integrated analysis these scales. bridge this gap, a unique cohort of 98 individuals, we collected antemortem neuroimaging and genetic data, as well postmortem dendritic spine morphometric, proteomic gene expression data the superior frontal inferior temporal gyri. Through integration morphology identified hundreds...
Proteomic studies utilizing postmortem human brain tissue samples have yielded robust assessments of the aging and neurodegenerative disease(s) proteomes. While these analyses provide lists molecular alterations in conditions, like Alzheimer’s disease (AD), identifying individual proteins that affect biological processes remains a challenge. To complicate matters, protein targets may be highly understudied limited information on their function. address hurdles, we sought to establish...
Abstract Rho-associated kinase isoform 2 (ROCK2) is an attractive drug target for several neurologic disorders. A critical barrier to ROCK2-based research and therapeutics the lack of a mouse model that enables investigation ROCK2 with spatial temporal control gene expression. To overcome this, we generated fl/fl mice. Mice expressing Cre recombinase in forebrain excitatory neurons ( CaMKII -Cre) were crossed mice (Cre/ROCK2 ), contribution behavior as well dendritic spine morphology...
Episodic memory in older adults is varied and perceived to rely on numbers of synapses or dendritic spines. We analyzed 2157 neurons among 128 individuals from the Religious Orders Study Rush Memory Aging Project. Analysis 55,521 individual spines by least absolute shrinkage selection operator regression nested model cross-validation revealed that spine head diameter temporal cortex, but not premotor improved prediction episodic performance models containing β amyloid plaque scores,...
Loss-of-function mutations in the progranulin (GRN) gene are an autosomal dominant cause of Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD). These typically result haploinsufficiency protein. Grn+/- mice provide a model for and develop FTD-like behavioral abnormalities by 9-10 months age. In previous work, we demonstrated that low dominance phenotype tube test is associated with reduced dendritic arborization layer II/III pyramidal neurons prelimbic region medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), key social behavior...
Abstract Background The intersection of genetic diversity, memory, and synaptic function is a critical component in better understanding age‐related cognitive decline. Diversity Outbred mice offer the opportunity to investigate aging across genetically diverse population controlled lab environment. DO exhibit an appreciable amount variance Contextual Fear Memory Acquisition (CFM, CFA), which can be linked individual differences background (Ouellette A. et al, 2022, Cell Reports) . Here, we...