Title
Decision Making by the Prefrontal Cortex And the Role of Dopamine in Pyramidal Neuron Function
Advisor
Thomas, Mark P.
Committee Member
Leatherman, Judith
Committee Member
Burns, Patrick
Committee Member
Peterson, EricCollege of Natural and Health Sciences School of Biological Sciences Biological Education
Department
College of Natural and Health Sciences; School of Biological Sciences, Biological Education
Institution
University of Northern Colorado
Type of Resources
Text
Place of Publication
Greeley, (Colo.)
Publisher
University of Northern Colorado
Date Created
12-2022
Extent
132 pages
Digital Origin
Born digital
Abstract
There were two primary focuses of this research. The first aim was to investigate how students’ perception toward the flipped classroom and video learning correlate to their characteristics including their demographics, first generation status, English language learner status, Grit level, motivation types, quality of peer collaboration, and social self-efficacy. Our data indicated that there is significant correlation between student’s motivation status and attitude toward learning from video lectures. The intrinsically motivated students have a higher attitude toward learning from video. This study also demonstrates that participants with high Grit scores performed better than the participants with low Grit scores. The second aim was to investigate the effect of D3R activation on resonance frequency and sag amplitude in type I layer V medial prefrontal cortical pyramidal neurons. Because dopamine D3R is a relatively hot area of research, I first completed an extended literature review on D3R cellular mechanisms and roles in many neuropsychiatric diseases. Then I explored the effect of D3R agonists on type I layer V pyramidal neurons. I used two types of novel Dopamine D3R agonists in this study. I found that D3R agonist application inhibited the sag amplitude and resonance frequency in type I layer V mPFC pyramidal neurons. This work shed light on previously unknown cellular mechanisms on the effect of dopamine D3R activation on intrinsic electrical properties of type I layer V pyramidal neurons. The concentrations of both agonists used was 10 uM, at these concentrations; the drugs should saturate the D3R in our cortical slices. Further dose response experiments are needed to determine the concentration range of D3R agonists that could facilitate usage in future research.
Degree type
PhD
Degree Name
Doctoral
Local Identifiers
Mohamed_unco_0161D_11068.pdf
Rights Statement
Copyright is held by the author.
