Date Thesis Awarded
5-2024
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Science (BS)
Department
Biology
Advisor
Margaret Saha
Committee Members
Jennifer Bestman
Jonathan Scheerer
Matthew Wawersik
Abstract
Calcium transients have been implicated as a potential regulator for multiple aspects of neural development. Previous studies have identified a relationship between calcium activity and neural induction, morphogenesis, and neuronal differentiation. However, the exact nature of this relationship is unclear, and the reliance of previous work on calcium deprivation to reduce transients means that their results could be attributable to nutritional causes rather than regulatory ones. The goal of this thesis was to investigate the effects of highly elevated calcium spiking generated by mechanical perturbation on neural induction. In situ hybridization found that Sox2 expression, a marker of neural progenitor and stem cells, was reduced in perturbed embryos. Curving in the early tailbud stage revealed potential scoliokyphosis and impaired somitogenesis in perturbed embryos. These results contradict hypotheses that calcium transients promote neural induction and morphogenesis in linear fashion and identify areas where future RNA-seq analysis could provide additional insights into the effects of our perturbation-induced spiking treatments.
Recommended Citation
Vroom, William, "Investigating the relationship between calcium spiking frequency and neural development in Xenopus laevis" (2024). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 2134.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/2134
