The Role of Ventromedial Hypothalamus Cholecystokinin Receptor B Containing Neurons in Regulation of Hypoglycemia and Hypoglycemia-Associated Autonomic Failure

摘要

Abstract My F32 entitled “The Role of Ventromedial Hypothalamus Cholecystokinin B Receptor Containing Neurons (VMNCCKBR) in Regulation of Hypoglycemia and Hypoglycemia Associated Autonomic Failure” requires extensive use of genetic mouse models and neurosurgical techniques to evaluate the role of specific neurons in the regulation of glucose metabolism. On March 20, 2020, all research at University of Michigan stopped and I was required to reduce my mouse colony by over 70%. Due to reductions in animal facility staffing and limited PPE, we were restricted to maintenance level breeding until mid-June 2020. My experiments require that I perform neurosurgery when the mice are 8 – 12 weeks of age and study the animals 4 – 8 weeks after surgery, thus several cohorts of mice that had been designated for experiments in late March through June 2020 were lost. Due to the time required to generate new mice once breeding for experiments was allowed and the age requirements for neurosurgery, I was unable to restart surgeries until October 2020 and could not start metabolic experiments until December 2020. Thus, due to the specific nature of my training and the type of experiments that I perform, I lost an additional 6 months of experimental training in addition to the 3 months that were lost due to the lab shut down. During the additional 6 months requested in this extension, I will specifically focus on extending my training in using optogenetics to assess the physiology of VMNCCKBR neurons and develop additional viral tracing strategies to evaluate VMN neuron connectivity. The funds requested will provide my stipend and institutional support while I receive this training.