| 1. |
- Afrane, George, et al.
(författare)
-
A product chain organisation study of certified cocoa supply
- 2013
-
Ingår i: 6th International Conference on Life Cycle Management, LCM2013, 25-28 August 2013,Göteborg.
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cocoa supplies may become limited in the future. Demands for sustainable cocoa sparked an exploration of the product chain organisation of conventional and certified cocoa from Ghana. The comparison shows that transparency requirements have led to a more complex product chain. Even so, certification has yielded important productivity increases resulting in environmental benefits (e.g. reduced greenhouse gas emissions) and improved livelihoods for smallholder farmers.
|
|
| 2. |
- Alsiö, Johan, et al.
(författare)
-
Enhanced Sucrose and Cocaine Self-Administration and Cue-Induced Drug Seeking after Loss of VGLUT2 in Midbrain Dopamine Neurons in Mice
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Journal of Neuroscience. - 0270-6474 .- 1529-2401. ; 31:35, s. 12593-12603
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The mesostriatal dopamine (DA) system contributes to several aspects of responses to rewarding substances and is implicated in conditions such as drug addiction and eating disorders. A subset of DA neurons has been shown to express the type 2 Vesicular glutamate transporter (Vglut2) and may therefore corelease glutamate. In the present study, we analyzed mice with a conditional deletion of Vglut2 in DA neurons (Vglut2(f/f;DAT-Cre)) to address the functional significance of the glutamate-DA cophenotype for responses to cocaine and food reinforcement. Biochemical parameters of striatal DA function were also examined by using DA receptor autoradiography, immediate-early gene quantitative in situ hybridization after cocaine challenge, and DA-selective in vivo chronoamperometry. Mice in which Vglut2 expression had been abrogated in DA neurons displayed enhanced operant self-administration of both high-sucrose food and intravenous cocaine. Furthermore, cocaine seeking maintained by drug-paired cues was increased by 76%, showing that reward-dependent plasticity is perturbed in these mice. In addition, several lines of evidence suggest that adaptive changes occurred in both the ventral and dorsal striatum in the absence of VGLUT2: DA receptor binding was increased, and basal mRNA levels of the DA-induced early genes Nur77 and c-fos were elevated as after cocaine induction. Furthermore, in vivo challenge of the DA system by potassium-evoked depolarization revealed less DA release in both striatal areas. This study demonstrates that absence of VGLUT2 in DA neurons leads to perturbations of reward consumption as well as reward-associated memory, features of particular relevance for addictive-like behavior.
|
|
| 3. |
- Arvidsson, Emma, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
-
Age- and Sex-Dependence of Dopamine Release and Capacity for Recovery Identified in the Dorsal Striatum ofC57/Bl6J Mice
- 2014
-
Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 9:6, s. e99592-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The dorsal striatum is the main input structure of the basal ganglia and the major target area of dopaminergic projections originating in the substantia nigra pars compacta. Heavily involved in the regulation of voluntary movement and habit formation, this structure is of strong importance in Parkinson's disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Tourette's syndrome and addiction. The C57/Bl6J mouse strain, the most commonly used strain in preclinical research today, is frequently used as a model organism for analysis of dopaminergic parameters implicated in human pathophysiology. Several components of the dopamine system have been shown to vary with age and sex, however knowledge of the contribution of these factors for dopamine release kinetics in the C57/Bl6J mouse strain is lacking. In the present study, we used an intracranial KCl-stimulation challenge paradigm to provoke release from dopaminergic terminals in the dorsal striatum of anaesthetized C57/Bl6J mice. By high-speed in vivo chronoamperometric recordings, we analyzed DA release parameters in male and female mice of two different ages. Our experiments demonstrate elevated DA amplitudes in adult compared to young mice of both sexes and higher DA amplitudes in females compared to males at both ages. Adult mice exhibited higher recovery capabilities after repeated stimulation than did young mice and also showed a lower variability in the kinetic parameters trise and t80 between stimulations. These results identified age- and sex- dimorphisms in DA release parameters and point to the importance of taking these dimorphisms into account when utilizing the C57/Bl6J mouse strain as model for neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.
|
|
| 4. |
- Arvidsson, Emma, 1986-
(författare)
-
Motion and Emotion : Functional In Vivo Analyses of the Mouse Basal Ganglia
- 2014
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A major challenge in the field of neuroscience is to link behavior with specific neuronal circuitries and cellular events. One way of facing this challenge is to identify unique cellular markers and thus have the ability to, through various mouse genetics tools, mimic, manipulate and control various aspects of neuronal activity to decipher their correlation to behavior. The Vesicular Glutamate Transporter 2 (VGLUT2) packages glutamate into presynaptic vesicles for axonal terminal release. In this thesis, VGLUT2 was used to specifically target cell populations within the basal ganglia of mice with the purpose of investigating its connectivity, function and involvement in behavior. The motor and limbic loops of the basal ganglia are important for processing of voluntary movement and emotions. During such physiological events, dopamine plays a central role in modulating the activity of these systems.The brain reward system is mainly formed by dopamine projections from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the ventral striatum. Certain dopamine neurons within the VTA exhibit the ability to co-release dopamine and glutamate. In paper I, glutamate and dopamine co-release was targeted and our results demonstrate that the absence of VGLUT2 in dopamine neurons leads to perturbations of reward consumption and reward-associated memory, probably due to reduced DA release observed in the striatum as detected by in vivo chronoamperometry.In papers II and IV, VGLUT2 in a specific subpopulation within the subthalamic nucleus (STN) was identified and targeted. Based on the described role of the STN in movement control, we hypothesized that the mice would be hyperlocomotive. As shown in paper II, this was indeed the case. In paper IV, a putative reward-related phenotype was approached and we could show reduced operant-self administration of sugar and altered dopamine release levels suggesting a role for the STN in reward processes.In paper III, we investigated and identified age- and sex-dimorphisms in dopamine kinetics in the dorsal striatum of one of the most commonly used mouse lines worldwide, the C57/Bl6J. Our results point to the importance of taking these dimorphisms into account when utilizing the C57/Bl6J strain as model for neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.
|
|
| 5. |
- Fortin, G. M., et al.
(författare)
-
Glutamate corelease promotes growth and survival of midbrain dopamine neurons
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Journal of Neuroscience. - 0270-6474 .- 1529-2401. ; 32:48, s. 17477-17491
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent studies have proposed that glutamate corelease by mesostriatal dopamine (DA) neurons regulates behavioral activation by psychostimulants.How and when glutamate release by DA neurons might play this role remains unclear. Considering evidence for early expression of the type 2 vesicular glutamate transporter in mesencephalic DA neurons, we hypothesized that this cophenotype is particularly important during development. Using a conditional gene knock-out approach to selectively disrupt the Vglut2 gene in mouse DA neurons, we obtained in vitro and in vivo evidence for reduced growth and survival of mesencephalic DA neurons, associated with a decrease in the density of DA innervation in the nucleus accumbens, reduced activity-dependent DA release, and impaired motor behavior. These findings provide strong evidence for a functional role of the glutamatergic cophenotype in the development of mesencephalic DA neurons, opening new perspectives into the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disorders involving the mesostriatal DA system.
|
|
| 6. |
- Schweizer, Nadine, et al.
(författare)
-
Limiting glutamate transmission in a Vglut2-expressing subpopulation of the subthalamic nucleus is sufficient to cause hyperlocomotion
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 111:21, s. 7837-7842
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is a key area of the basal ganglia circuitry regulating movement. We identified a subpopulation of neurons within this structure that coexpresses Vglut2 and Pitx2, and by conditional targeting of this subpopulation we reduced Vglut2 expression levels in the STN by 40%, leaving Pitx2 expression intact. This reduction diminished, yet did not eliminate, glutamatergic transmission in the substantia nigra pars reticulata and entopeduncular nucleus, two major targets of the STN. The knockout mice displayed hyperlocomotion and decreased latency in the initiation of movement while preserving normal gait and balance. Spatial cognition, social function, and level of impulsive choice also remained undisturbed. Furthermore, these mice showed reduced dopamine transporter binding and slower dopamine clearance in vivo, suggesting that Vglut2-expressing cells in the STN regulate dopaminergic transmission. Our results demonstrate that altering the contribution of a limited population within the STN is sufficient to achieve results similar to STN lesions and high-frequency stimulation, but with fewer side effects.
|
|
| 7. |
|
|
