Discuss the possible role of dopamine in incentive salience? How might this lead to some of the symptoms of schizophrenia?
Institute of Psychiatry MSc Neuroscience 2007 - 2008 FULL TIME STUDENT ESSAY Module 3: Essay Question No: 7 TITLE Discuss the possible role of dopamine in incentive salience? How might this lead to some of the symptoms of schizophrenia? WORD COUNT: 2911 CANDIDATE NUMBER :0707502 PAGE NUMBER: 16 Discuss the possible role of dopamine in incentive salience? How might this lead to some of the symptoms of schizophrenia? In my essay, I will be focusing how dopamine release in the ventral stria mediates incentive salience which makes the brain direct attention to biological significant stimuli and how incentive salience is disrupted in psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia which is responsible for some of the symptoms. Schizophrenia is one of the most severe mental illnesses that affect individuals in their late teens and early twenties.Hallucinations, most commonly auditory ones, delusions and disorders of the form of thinking ("thought disorder") are implicated in schizophrenia and are so called "positive" symptoms. Patients also suffer from negative symptoms such as apathy, social withdrawal and poverty of speech. The illness commonly follows a characteristic remitting relapsing course of positive symptoms. The neurochemical basis of schizophrenia is supported by a number of models and these are useful as they provide a testable framework for studying the
DNA research paper. The Ligation of EGFP cDNA into pET41a(+)
Shanni He Biol 100K Prof. Jeremy Lee TA: Kasturi Malaviya The Ligation of EGFP cDNA into pET41a(+) I. Introduction Over the course of the last few weeks, we conducted experiments in which our goal was to successfully ligate EGFP cDNA into pET41a(+) in order to transform our recombinant expression plasmids into clones of E. coli. After growing these cultures on varieties of agar plates, we attempted to isolate our recombinant plasmid DNA and ran multiple tests in order to confirm that the EGFP insert worked. GFP was first cloned in 1994 from the jellyfish Aqueorea victoria (Prasher et al., 1992). This useful gene glows green under specific lights allowing us to see when and where proteins appear. The type of GFP we used in our lab was EGFP, which is a humanized version of GFP (Yang et al., 1996). Today, GFP has become one of the most widely used proteins in biochemistry and has sparked man `` y new discoveries in gene expression and protein targeting. In order to clone EGFP, we utilized multiple procedures of recombinant DNA technology. This technology allows scientist to produce DNA artificially by extracting DNA from two different sources and combining them into a single molecule. The first successful production was done in 1972 at Stanford University, which opened a new horizon in drug development and medical discoveries. Human insulin, which is used to help
Plasma Membranes in Eukaryotic Organisms
Discuss the Importance of Plasma Membranes in Eukaryotic Organisms. The structure of Plasma Membranes within Eukaryotic cells is often called the fluid mosaic model, and they have a great deal of importance when it comes to the functions of Eukaryotic cells, that happen to be in both plant and animals. Examples of Eukaryotic cells include tissue cells, amoeba, mushrooms, and palisade cells. The membranes of these cells are made up of various different parts; this comprises of integral proteins, peripheral proteins, glycoproteins, cholesterol, lipoproteins, phospholipids and glycolipids. The fluid mosaic model consists of a phospholipids bi-layer. This is where the lipids hydrophobic tails point towards the centre of the membrane and the hydrophilic heads point towards the surface of the fluid mosaic model. This is a brief diagram of the fluid mosaic model. [1][3] The major importance of the cell membrane is providing a permeable boundary that circulates the double membrane cell. Examples of double membrane organelles include organelles such as a mitochondrion and the nucleus. The principle of how cells became double membraned is that the early prokaryotic cell was engulfed by another prokaryotic cell, and that there singular membranes worked together, and formed a double membrane which is more efficient, this is called endosymbiosis. The idea of this fluid mosaic model is to
Investigation to determine the water potential of potato cells.
Investigation to determine the water potential of potato cells. Planning Aim Carry out an experiment to determine the water potential of potato cells. Variables Independent Variable The variable that will be changed in this experiment is concentration of sucrose solution. I am using this variable because preliminary results show that this method is the best to use to determine the water potential of the cell contents. Dependent Variable The variable that will be measured is the mass change of the potato chips I can use these results to determine the average mass change per gram of the potatoes and I can then find out what the isotonic solution is for the potato chips, the concentration for the isotonic solution for the potato chips is the molarity of the potato cell contents and using this I can find out the water potential of potato cells. Control Variables There are many factors which control osmosis and the water potential of the cell contents these must be kept constant to ensure the experiment is a fair test. When the temperature increases, the rate of osmosis increases because the water particles have more energy and can move faster, so they will leave or enter the potato cells more quickly. At cold temperatures the water molecules will have less energy so less molecules will able to diffuse in the allotted time. If the temperature fluctuates significantly the
Investigating six different cell types. (spermatozoa smear, squamous epithelium cells, pollen grain, diatoms mixed, bacillus subtilis, & human blood)
In everyday life, we never think about the amount of cells that we shield or produce; least the structure, size or shape. Often in forensic investigation, scientists come across different types of cells, especially human cell (like spermatozoa cell, while investigating an alleged rape) or human fluid (like bacteria, which could be found in the blood and use for DNA profiling.) These cells can help investigators to know more about a case for example, pollen and diatoms could help a scientist to decide the geographical area of an incident. If it is underwater, Diatoms would be found or land (pollen). It can help to decide the type of environment an incident occurred. Cells can also help to explain if an evidence or body has been transported from one place to the other, i.e. it helps to locate the original crime scene. For example, if a body was found in the bush, after experimentation, scientist might found out that the body has been transported from one place to another, if there is diatoms in the body, it might identify the movement of corpse. According to Clegg (2000) Cell is the fundamental unit of life. This means that cells are the smallest part of any living thing; they serve as the basic building blocks of life that make up the structural and functional unit of all living organism. 'They contain the hereditary information, which is necessary for regulating cell
IMMUNOLOGY PRACTICAL: Differential Blood Cell Counts
IMMUNOLOGY PRACTICAL: Differential Blood Cell Counts AIM: To examine a prepared blood smears from humans in order to identify and count different types of white blood cell. Also to analyse and view the data, taken during the course of a parasitic infection (on mice). INTRODUCTION The total number of white blood cell does not necessarily indicate the severity of a disease, since some serious ailment may show a low white blood cell count. For this reason, a differential white blood cell count is performed. A differential white blood cell count consists of an examination of blood to determine the presence and the number of different types of white blood cells. This study often provides helpful information in determining the severity and extent of an infection, more than any other single procedure used in the examination of the blood. The role of white blood cells, or leukocytes, is to control various disease conditions. Although these cells do most of their work outside the circulatory system, they use the blood for transportation to sites of infection. There are five different types of white blood cells, which are normally found in the circulating blood. They are 1) lymphocytes, 2) neutrophils, 3) monocytes, 4) basophils and 5) eosinophils. Lymphocytes constitute 20-40% of the body's white blood cell and 99% of the cells in the lymph. These lymphocytes continually
Methods and Criticism of Cloning and Genetic Modification
Biological cloning can be defined as the creation of one or more genetically identical animals by transferring the nucleus of a body cell into an egg from which the nucleus has been removed (S. Ignacimuthu; 2009). Dolly was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell using the process of somatic cell nuclear transfer. She was cloned by Ian Wilmut and colleagues at the Roslin Institute in 1996. Somatic cell nuclear transfer refers to the transfer of the nucleus from an existing organism into an enucleated oocyte. Different techniques are used in somatic cell nuclear transfer. These are The Roslin technique and Honolulu technique. The Roslin Technique was used to create one of the world’s most famous clones, Dolly the Sheep. The cloning of Dolly was a breakthrough in several ways. It demonstrated that the full genetic complement of somatic cells derived from adult animals could be reactivated well into the chronicle life of the cell ( http://www.roslin.ed.ac.uk ). Researchers took mammary gland cells from an adult Finn Dorset sheep, and grew the cells in tissue culture. Using the tissue culture, they made sure that the cells didn’t have access to specific nutrients so they couldn’t grow and divide. This was achieved by placing the cells in a salt solution and inducing a state of hibernation by starving the cells, providing just enough growth factor to keep
Biology Light & Life
.1 The Physical Nature of Light - Functions of light on earth: Source of energy that sustains life providing organisms with info. about the physical world • eyespot - a light sensor that allows sensing of both light direction and light intensity. What Is Light? - The reason there is life on earth is because of its distance from the sun (150 000 000 km). - The sun converts over 4 million tones of matter into energy every second >> given off as electromagnetic radiation, which travels at the speed of light & reaches the Earth in ~8 minutes. -Electromagnetic radiation moves in the form of 2 waves: electrical & magnetic, oriented at 90º to each other • Wavelength - the distance between two successive peaks. Wavelength of electromagnetic radiation ranges from less than one picometre for cosmic rays to more than a kilometre for radio waves. LIGHT - The portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that humans can see. - A narrow band on the electromagnetic spectrum from 400nm (blue light) to ~700nm (red light). Wavelengths outside this range are referred to as ultraviolet and infrared radiation. - Behaves as a stream of energy particles (packets) called photons. - Photons have no mass, but contain a precise amount of energy, which is related to its wavelength. * Short wavelength - high energy * Long wavelength - low energy Light Interacts With Matter - When
The Rate of Enzyme Reactions
BIOL 130-017 Room: B2 151 Time: Wed 930AM - 12:20AM Date of Experimentation: 11/04/09 The Rate of Enzyme Reactions Introduction The purpose of this lab was to investigate what factors affect the direction of an enzyme reaction. The variables tested in this experiment were substrate concentration, enzyme concentration and reaction time. Enzymes are important biological catalysts that are required to drive chemical reactions for normal cell function. A catalyst is a substance which promotes chemical change without being consumed in the reaction. (Hasselberger, F.X. 1978) They are also important metabolic mediators, responsible for every reaction in the cell. (Karp, G. 2007) In this experiment two types of enzymes were used to test the variables of the experiment. The enzymes were salivary amylase and phosphorylase. Enzymes are used to accelerate the rates at which a favourable chemical reaction proceeds, however there are factors that affect the effectiveness of the enzyme activity. First, all of the chemical reactions take place at an active site. This is the part of the enzyme molecule that is directly involved with the binding of the substrate. Substrates are reactants bound by an enzyme. (Kuby, S.A. (1991). When the substrate concentration increases, the rate of enzyme activity will increase as well. This is because there are more interactions between the
What is the concentration of the Cell Sap in a Potato?
What is the concentration of the cell sap in a potato? Preliminary investigation- 0.0 M Initial mass --> 1.03 g Final mass --> 1.09 g Change in mass --> + 0.06 g 0.1 M Initial mass --> 1.03 g Final mass --> 1.06 g Change in mass --> + 0.03 g 0.9 M Initial mass --> 1.20 g Final mass --> 1.14 g Change in mass --> - 0.06 g Background knowledge- Water is essential to not only plants but all living things that need to carry out the 7 life cycles which are, movement, respiration, sensitivity, nutrition, excretion, reproduction and growth. Similarly, water is needed for photosynthesis to occur as it is stated in the formula; Water + Carbon Dioxide --> Oxygen + Glucose In this process the plant is able to make glucose with water and carbon dioxide. The formula will not work properly. Being able to transport water to all of the cells of the plant is vital. A plant has lots of thin tubes that carry liquids up and down the plant, they are called, the plants Transport System. Part of that system is the Phloem tube which carries glucose and the Xylem vessels need to carry water throughout the plant. Likewise, water keeps the plant cool and keeps the cells turgid giving it support so that it can get the most sun rays for photosynthesis to occur at a maximum. When the plant cells start to take up