Undergraduate Research Day 2020

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/20158

With students involved in so many research opportunities, Undergraduate Research Day provides the perfect opportunity for them to share their work with the campus community. Held each April, Undergraduate Research Day showcases current research, scholarship, and artistic endeavors.

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Author: search.filters.author.Morrell, MatthewSubject: search.filters.subject.Gemstone

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    Investigation of 1P-LSD as a Novel Drug Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorders
    (2020) Foster, Kayla; Hansen, Abigail; Lee, Matthew; Mohammed, Alan; Morrell, Matthew; Nguyen, Thach-Vu; Olson, Caroline; Pascale, Lucas; Sunny, Nishanth
    Autism spectrum disorders (ASD), defined by repetitive behaviors or impaired social communication, is a prevalent yet relatively misunderstood set of conditions. ASD encompasses a series of neurodevelopmental disorders that have various physiological manifestations (Goines & Ashwood, 2013). Due to the heterogeneity of ASD, the true mechanisms leading to the development of ASD and its symptoms remain unclear and require more research (Rossignol & Frye, 2012; Watts, 2008). The purpose of this project is to test whether or not 1P-LSD, an analogue of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), has the potential to treat symptoms of ASD, specifically the hyperexcitation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the brain which causes the neuronal excitotoxicity highly implicated in the pathology of ASD. We will determine the two highest doses of 1P-LSD which do not result in any hallucinogenic side effects in Phase 1 of this protocol and utilize these doses towards treatment of symptoms associated with ASD in Phase 2 of this protocol. We will monitor NMDA receptor activity, which is usually impaired in ASD, following microdosing of 1P-LSD. For these experiments, we will be using an autistic mouse model (Slc6a4) compared to normal mice (C57BL/6J). The efficacy of the treatment model will be assessed by measuring the levels of a subunit of the NMDA receptor, the NR2B subunit, using western blotting and immunohistochemistry, and by measuring the levels of glutamate using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).