Marine Aquarium Facility for Support of Neuroscience Research

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This proposal requests funding for the operation of a centralized marine aquarium facility that serves as a shared, core resource for seven ongoing research projects at the Marine Biomedical Institute and other departments of the University of Texas, Galveston. These laboratories are engaged in basic research in the neural sciences, studying aspects of anatomy, electrophysiology and biophysics, pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior in vertebrate and invertebrate aquatic species collected by and/or maintained in the aquarium. Projects include: studies on the electrophysiological and pharmacological effects of natural and synthetic egg-laying-related peptides on identified neurons in Aplysia, electrophysiological and behavioral studies to identify and characterize the neuronal circuits that underlie rhythmic swimming behavior in glutamate and dopamine on isolated horizontal cells from the retina of catfish, anatomical and electrophysiological studies on vestibular modulation of locomotion using stingrays, biochemical and electrophysiological studies on the identification and actions of a novel peptide transmitter in Aplysia that influences the processing of peptides in the atrial gland and CNS neurons that regulate egg laying and influence the bag cell neuroendocrine system, and immunocytochemical, biochemical and physiological studies of central neurons in Aplysia that regulate bag cell activity. The facility also supports projects that are involved with electrophysiological, morphological, and pharmacological analyses of the neural regulation of locomotion in lamprey and stingray spinal chord.