Senior Project Advisor

Jacqueline Rose

Document Type

Project

Publication Date

Spring 2024

Keywords

stress, learning, intergenerational, transgenerational

Abstract

Past research has shown that maternal stress, also known as in-utero stress, results in anxiety-, depression-, and schizophrenia-like behaviors in rodent models. Changes in glutamate receptor expression, namely NMDA and AMPA receptors, have also been observed. Past studies in our lab demonstrated that In-utero stress in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) produces significant intergenerational differences in spontaneous locomotor behavior. Extending from this result, the current study investigates the multigenerational effects of chronic mild stress on learning in C. elegans. The parental generation is subjected to stress using a chronic, unpredictable stress protocol adapted from rodent chronic stress models. Age-synchronized Wild-Type (N2) worms were subjected to three conditions: Control, suspension in liquid buffer (Sham), and suspension in liquid buffer coupled with motion (Stress) for 4 hours, the time period of egg formation in this hermaphroditic animal. Learning was quantified using an associative conditioning assay that paired two stimuli that drive opposing locomotor responses: blue light ~480 nm, which usually elicits forward locomotion, and a vibration (300 Hz) that typically evokes a backward locomotor response. After five pairings of stimuli, a vibration tone alone is presented to test learning behavior. We examined learning behavior for four generations (F0 - F3). Intergenerational effects are observed by examining the F0 - F2 generations while transgenerational effects were examined in the F3 generation.

Department

Psychology

Type

Text

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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Included in

Psychology Commons

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