• Find People
  • Campus Map
  • PiratePort
  • A-Z
    • About
    • Submit
    • Browse
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   ScholarShip Home
    • Academic Affairs
    • Honors College
    • View Item
    •   ScholarShip Home
    • Academic Affairs
    • Honors College
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of The ScholarShipCommunities & CollectionsDateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeDate SubmittedThis CollectionDateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeDate Submitted

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Google Analytics Statistics

    Social Regulation of the Escape and Swim Motor Circuits in Dopamine Receptor Type 1 Mutant Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

    View/ Open
    WARD-HONORSTHESIS-2019.pdf (3.591Mb)
    Joseph_RCAW_Poster_Final_1.pdf (4.474Mb)
    Joseph_RCAW_Poster_Final.pdf (4.474Mb)

    Show full item record
    Author
    Ward, Joseph Carl
    Access
    This item will be available on: 2021-05-01
    Abstract
    Dominance hierarchies are an evolutionary mechanism to ensure the stability of animal groups by enabling the division of resources like food and mates according to social rank. Once dominance is established, the behavior pattern of individual group members shifts according to their social rank. We are motivated to better understand the neural bases of social behavior and how social activity influence nervous system function particularly the role of neuromodulators in regulating spinal motor circuits. Using zebrafish as a model organism, we tested the importance of the dopamine type 1 receptor (DRD1) in regulating social activity and spinal motor circuits in socially dominant and submissive fish by genetically knocking the DRD1 receptor. Our motivation stems out of the fact that in many animal species dopamine plays an important role in regulating aggression, motivation and spinal motor activity. However, it remains poorly understood how social factors can influence dopaminergic signaling and its impact on motor function. We focused out attention on two easily quantifiable behaviors: the startle escape response and swimming behaviors. In wildtype zebrafish, we found that subordinate animals display an elevated startle response sensitivity and reduced swimming activity compared to dominant animals. However, preliminary results show that although the DRD1 KO animals display similar status-dependent behavior patterns compared to wildtype pairs, these differences are less distinct. DRD1 KO subordinates continue to display heightened escape response sensitivity and reduced swimming activity compared to dominants, but those differences are less discernable. We aim to verify these results with a larger sample size. If confirmed, our results would suggest that the DRD1 receptor potentially plays an important role in regulating motor activity in a socially status-dependent manner.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10342/7336
    Subject
    social regulation, neural excitability
    Date
    2019-05-03
    Citation:
    APA:
    Ward, Joseph Carl. (May 2019). Social Regulation of the Escape and Swim Motor Circuits in Dopamine Receptor Type 1 Mutant Zebrafish (Danio rerio) (Honors Thesis, East Carolina University). Retrieved from the Scholarship. (http://hdl.handle.net/10342/7336.)

    Display/Hide MLA, Chicago and APA citation formats.

    MLA:
    Ward, Joseph Carl. Social Regulation of the Escape and Swim Motor Circuits in Dopamine Receptor Type 1 Mutant Zebrafish (Danio rerio). Honors Thesis. East Carolina University, May 2019. The Scholarship. http://hdl.handle.net/10342/7336. April 17, 2021.
    Chicago:
    Ward, Joseph Carl, “Social Regulation of the Escape and Swim Motor Circuits in Dopamine Receptor Type 1 Mutant Zebrafish (Danio rerio)” (Honors Thesis., East Carolina University, May 2019).
    AMA:
    Ward, Joseph Carl. Social Regulation of the Escape and Swim Motor Circuits in Dopamine Receptor Type 1 Mutant Zebrafish (Danio rerio) [Honors Thesis]. Greenville, NC: East Carolina University; May 2019.
    Collections
    • Biology
    • Honors College
    Publisher
    East Carolina University

    xmlui.ArtifactBrowser.ItemViewer.elsevier_entitlement

    East Carolina University has created ScholarShip, a digital archive for the scholarly output of the ECU community.

    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Send Feedback