Behavioral Neuroscience

Acute and Chronic Psilocybin in Mouse Models of Psychiatric Disorders

mycolabadmin

Researchers tested psilocybin (the active compound in magic mushrooms) in mice bred to show obsessive-compulsive behaviors. A single dose of psilocybin reduced compulsive grooming for about a week, but giving it repeatedly over time did not help with anxiety, depression, or compulsive behaviors. The findings suggest psilocybin might work best as a one-time treatment rather than repeated doses, which has implications for how these drugs might be used in future psychiatric treatment.

Investigating the Potential of Psilocybin for Compulsive Eating in a Rat Model of Binge Eating

mycolabadmin

Researchers tested whether psilocybin, a psychedelic compound from magic mushrooms, could help reduce compulsive eating in rats bred to binge eat high-fat, high-sugar foods. Using a fear-conditioning experiment, they found that a single dose of psilocybin did not reduce the rats’ compulsive eating behavior at the dosage tested. However, the treatment may have affected fear-related freezing responses, suggesting psilocybin might influence brain circuits involved in learning and memory.

The Neural Signature of Visual Learning Under Restrictive Virtual-Reality Conditions

mycolabadmin

Scientists studied how honey bees learn to distinguish different colors in a virtual reality environment. By examining the brains of bees that successfully learned versus those that didn’t, researchers found that successful learning caused specific genes to be turned down in key visual brain regions. This suggests that learning involves not just turning genes on, but also turning some off, which may help the brain focus on important visual information. The findings help us understand how animal brains process visual information and learn from experience.

Cell adhesion presence during adolescence controls the architecture of projection-defined prefrontal cortical neurons and reward-related action strategies later in life

mycolabadmin

During teenage years, the brain undergoes important structural changes that set the stage for adult decision-making abilities. This study found that a cell adhesion protein called β1-integrin plays a critical role during adolescence in stabilizing connections between brain cells in the prefrontal cortex. When this protein was missing during the teenage years, adult mice struggled to make good decisions about rewards and could not adjust their behavior when circumstances changed. The research suggests that proper brain development during adolescence requires these cellular adhesion molecules to build the neural circuits needed for intelligent decision-making later in life.

Axin2 coupled excessive Wnt-glycolysis signaling mediates social defect in autism spectrum disorders

mycolabadmin

Autism spectrum disorder affects social abilities in millions of people, but the underlying causes remain poorly understood. This research discovered that in the brains of people with autism, certain cellular processes that control energy and signaling become overactive, particularly in the region controlling social behavior. The good news is that the researchers found a drug-like compound called XAV939 can restore normal function by blocking the abnormal interaction between two key proteins, potentially offering a new treatment approach.

Taste cues elicit prolonged modulation of feeding behavior in Drosophila

mycolabadmin

This study shows that fruit flies can remember tastes they recently experienced and adjust their future feeding behavior based on these memories. After tasting something sweet, flies become more likely to feed in the next few seconds, while tasting something bitter makes them less likely to feed. Interestingly, nerve cells must remain active even after the taste is gone to maintain this memory, suggesting the brain stores taste information in a special way.

Behavioral dissection of hunger states in Drosophila

mycolabadmin

Scientists studying fruit flies discovered that hunger comes in two types: the need-based hunger when your body needs nutrients, and pleasure-based hunger when you want tasty food. By carefully watching how flies eat under different food conditions and examining their brain activity, researchers identified specific brain structures (the mushroom body) and dopamine neurons that control the desire for delicious food. This finding helps us understand why we eat food we don’t need and could lead to better treatments for obesity and eating disorders.

Research Topic: Behavioral Neuroscience

Acute and Chronic Psilocybin in Mouse Models of Psychiatric Disorders

Investigating the Potential of Psilocybin for Compulsive Eating in a Rat Model of Binge Eating

The Neural Signature of Visual Learning Under Restrictive Virtual-Reality Conditions

Cell adhesion presence during adolescence controls the architecture of projection-defined prefrontal cortical neurons and reward-related action strategies later in life

Axin2 coupled excessive Wnt-glycolysis signaling mediates social defect in autism spectrum disorders

Taste cues elicit prolonged modulation of feeding behavior in Drosophila

Behavioral dissection of hunger states in Drosophila