Publications by authors named "Hunter S Stevenson"

Antimicrobial use in livestock has emerged as a pressing global issue because of the rise of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. Regulatory authorities across the globe have taken steps to discourage the misuse of these antibiotics by banning or limiting the use of medically important antibiotics in food animals. However, to ensure that food animals are not being administered antibiotics inappropriately, there is a need for a reliable, raid-response biosensor that can detect the presence of these antibiotic residuals in meat products.

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While recently completing a study of the effects of stimulating the lateral preoptic area (LPO) and ventral pallidum (VP) on locomotion and other movements, we also noticed LPO and VP effects on motivational drive and threat tolerance. Here, we have investigated these latter effects by testing conditioned place preference (CPP), behavior on the elevated plus maze (EPM) and the willingness of sated rats to occupy a harshly lit open field center to acquire sweet pellets, a measure of threat tolerance, following infusions of vehicle or bicuculline (bic) into the LPO and VP. LPO-bic infusions robustly increased total locomotion, and, in direct proportion, occupancy of both the harshly lit field center and open arms of the EPM.

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The lateral preoptic area (LPO) and ventral pallidum (VP) are structurally and functionally distinct territories in the subcommissural basal forebrain. It was recently shown that unilateral infusion of the GABA receptor antagonist, bicuculline, into the LPO strongly invigorates exploratory locomotion, whereas bicuculline infused unilaterally into the VP has a negligible locomotor effect, but when infused bilaterally, produces vigorous, abnormal pivoting and gnawing movements and compulsive ingestion. This study was done to further characterize these responses.

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