Illuminating the Neural Circuitry of Compulsive Behaviors

Illuminating the Neural Circuitry Underlying Larval Zebrafish Behavior

Illuminating the Multifaceted Roles of Neurotransmission in Shaping Neuronal Circuitry

Across the nervous system, neurons form highly stereotypic patterns of synaptic connections that are designed to serve specific functions. Mature wiring patterns are often attained upon the refinement of early, less precise connectivity. Much work has led to the prevailing view that many developing circuits are sculpted by activity-dependent competition among converging afferents, which results...

Illuminating the opponent process: cocaine effects on habenulomesencephalic circuitry.

zebrafish tectum illustrating populations of derived retinal inputs and tectal cell responses: directionselective (magenta), orientation-selective (green), and anisotropic (cyan). Retinal ganglion cell axon arbors segregate by functional class, exhibiting distinct laminae within the superficial tectal neuropil (bands of color). Postsynaptic tectal cells (colored circles) display little order, w...

Illuminating the impact of habitual behaviors in depression.

Researchers have hypothesized that habitual behaviors are zeitgebers for the circadian clock. However, few studies have examined the relationship between habitual behaviors and light, the strongest zeitgeber. Depression is an ideal model in which to explore this relationship because depression is a disorder associated with disruptions in circadian biological activity, sleep, and social rhythms ...

Neurobiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder: insights into neural circuitry dysfunction through mouse genetics.

The precise causal factors for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are not known, although, decades of research have honed in on the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuitry in the brain as a critical pathway involved in obsessions and the intimately linked compulsive-repetitive behaviors. Recent progress in human and mouse genetics have led to the identification of novel candidate su...