Alexandria Digital Research Library

The Dynamics of Serotonin Receptor Expression in the Developing Forebrain

Author:
Chen, Angela
Degree Grantor:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Psychological & Brain Sciences
Degree Supervisor:
Skirmantas Januonis
Place of Publication:
[Santa Barbara, Calif.]
Publisher:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Creation Date:
2014
Issued Date:
2014
Topics:
Biology, Neuroscience
Genres:
Online resources and Dissertations, Academic
Dissertation:
Ph.D.--University of California, Santa Barbara, 2014
Description:

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) serves an important modulatory role in the entire central nervous system (CNS), and serotonergic abnormalities have been implicated in many mental disorders. All of the CNS supply of 5-HT originates in the brainstem raphe nuclei. The midbrain dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) sends widespread projections to the forebrain but receives direct input from only a small number of forebrain regions, including the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). We hypothesized that prenatal perturbations of 5-HT levels may alter the forebrain expression of 5-HT receptors (5-HTRs) in a time-sensitive manner and that these changes may result in persistent changes of the forebrain control of the DRN. Specifically, this thesis investigated the susceptibility of 5-HTR expression in the embryonic mouse telencephalon to chronic and acute perturbations of 5-HT levels and examined the effects of altered 5-HT 4R expression on the synaptic structure of the mPFC-DRN projection. These studies demonstrated (i) that acute and chronic perturbations of 5-HT levels affect the expression of 5-HT1AR, 5-HT 2AR, and 5-HT4R in the embryonic forebrain and (ii) that altered 5-HT4R expression affects the development of the synaptic connectivity between mPFC terminals and DRN serotonergic neurons. These findings suggest that prenatal serotonergic perturbations can strongly influence the development of the prefrontal control of 5-HT signaling and have long-term consequences for behavioral responses later in life.

Physical Description:
1 online resource (161 pages)
Format:
Text
Collection(s):
UCSB electronic theses and dissertations
ARK:
ark:/48907/f3571953
ISBN:
9781321567571
Catalog System Number:
990045118070203776
Rights:
Inc.icon only.dark In Copyright
Copyright Holder:
Angela Chen
File Description
Access: Public access
Chen_ucsb_0035D_12374.pdf pdf (Portable Document Format)