Date of Completion
Spring 5-23-2023
Thesis Advisor(s)
Alexander Jackson
Honors Major
Physiology and Neurobiology
Disciplines
Animal Experimentation and Research | Cells | Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience | Nervous System | Neuroscience and Neurobiology
Abstract
The lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) is an area crucial for coordinating key behaviors such as sleep, wakefulness, stress, and feeding. Within this area in the brain, Melanin concentrating hormone (MCH) neurons are exclusive to the LHA and also contribute to these key homeostatic behaviors. These neurons can be divided into two different subpopulations: MCH neurons that express cocaine amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) tachykinin-3 receptor (NK3R) and MCH neurons that do not express CART and NK3R. These neuronal subpopulations have been implicated in coordinating key behaviors but have not been well studied.
In this paper, our project seeks to analyze how the amount of Tacr3, MCH, and CART expressing cells differ in male versus female mice in the LHA. We also investigate the colocalization percentages of Tacr3 and MCH/CART in the LHA. Determining these differences in Tacr3, MCH, as well as CART expression can provide useful information on the neuroanatomical differences in the LHA between male and female mice. Additionally, the levels of colocalization of Tacr3 with either MCH or CART will help us further understand how these subpopulations differ in males and females. By perfusing Tacr3-Flpo;tdT mice and immunostaining for MCH or CART, we are able to visualize and quantify its expression in male and female mice. Our findings have resulted in seeing significant differences in cell count of Tacr3 expression. While this differences exist, no consistent trends in male or female mice are found to be expressed more or less throughout.
Recommended Citation
Juttu, Mahitha, "Investigating sexual dimorphism in lateral hypothalamic melanin-concentrating hormone neuron subpopulations" (2023). Honors Scholar Theses. 1059.
https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/srhonors_theses/1059
