Department of Psychology

Department of Psychology
Home » Research Labs » Conrad Lab

Conrad Lab - Lab Tour

In our lab, we quantify dendritic complexity within the limbic system (hippocampus & prefrontal cortex) by measuring total dendritic length and the number of dendritic bifurcations. We find changes in dendritic complexity after chronic stress, housing conditions and gonadal hormone status.  Here, a former undergraduate, Gillian, was tracing hippocampal neurons, and then another student verifies that all of the dendritic branches were included in the quantification.
Another former undergraduate, Jessica, was using a computer imaging system to measure neuronal morphology.

 
This is a cryostat, maintained at - 20 C, and we use the cryostat to slice brains in preparation for the Golgi procedure. Brain tissue is often cut at 100 µm thick coronal sections to allow full dendritic processes to be observed.  A former graduate student, Mac, used the cryostat to cut brain sections.

 
One of the behavioral measures we investigate is fear conditioning.  With this technique, we can examine learning and memory using a classical conditioning paradigm in which a previously neutral stimulus (tone or context) is paired with a mild footshock.  Rats that learn the association between tone and/or context will show enhanced freezing behavior to the tone and context. For reference to some of this work, see Conrad et al., (2004) Neurobiol. Learn. Mem., 81: 185-199.
The Y-maze is a spatial memory task that taps into hippocampal function in a two-trial paradigm.  Rats are allowed to explore 2- of 3-symmetrical arms in their first exposure to the Y-maze. After a 4-hr delay, rats are re-introduced into the maze with access to all 3 arms.  Rats with functional spatial memory will enter the previously unexplored arm more than the two previously explored arms. For reference to this type of work, see McLaughlin et al., (2007) Brain Res., 1161: 56-64.
Gillian is staining slides for Golgi so that we can visualize the dendritic trees of neurons and quantify the extent of dendritic branching in hippocampal neurons. For reference to this type of work, see McLaughlin et al., (2007) Brain Res., 1161: 56-64.
We are demonstrating proper PPE (personal protective equipment) when we handle rodents and rodent tissue.
This picture demonstrates the housing conditions for our environmental enrichment manipulation.  In this housing situation, rats have access to 2 running wheels, tunnels, pots, movable objects, and nesting material. These items are changed three times per week to maintain novelty within the environment. For reference to this work, please see Wright & Conrad (2008). Behav. Brain Res.,187, 41-47.