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J F Zolman

Publications and source records attributed to J F Zolman.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Teaching experimental design to biologists.

The teaching of research design and data analysis to our graduate students has been a persistent problem. A course is described in which students, early in their graduate training, obtain extensive practice in designing experiments and interpreting data. Lecture-discussions on the essentials of biostatistics are given, and then these essentials are repeatedly reviewed by illustrating their applications and misapplications in numerous research design problems. Students critique these designs and prepare similar problems for peer evaluation. In most problems the treatments are confounded by extraneous variables, proper controls may be absent, or data analysis may be incorrect. For each problem, students must decide whether the researchers' conclusions are valid and, if not, must identify a fatal experimental flaw. Students learn that an experiment is a well-conceived plan for data collection, analysis, and interpretation. They enjoy the interactive evaluations of research designs and appreciate the repetitive review of common flaws in different experiments. They also benefit from their practice in scientific writing and in critically evaluating their peers' designs.

Biology↗
PubMed1994

Separate and combined effects of dopamine D1 and D2 receptor agonists on key pecking in the developing chick.

The separate and combined effects of dopamine D1 and D2 agonists on key-peck responding of young chicks for heat reinforcement were determined. In the first experiment, 1- and 4-day-old chicks (n = 96) were injected SC with either distilled water or 5 mg/kg reserpine 18 h before testing. Twenty minutes before a 24-trial autoshaping session, chicks were injected IP with either distilled water or 10 mg/kg SKF 38393 and 2 mg/kg quinpirole. Chicks receiving both dopamine agonists had enhanced key-peck responding in both pretreatment conditions. In Experiment 2, 1- and 4-day-old chicks (n = 192) of two strains received 5 mg/kg reserpine SC 18 h before testing. Twenty minutes before their autoshaping session these chicks were injected IP with either distilled water, 10 mg/kg SKF 38393, 2 mg/kg quinpirole, or 10 mg/kg SKF 38393 and 2 mg/kg quinpirole. After reserpine pretreatment, chicks of both strains responded on more trials when given both dopamine agonists compared with controls given either distilled water or single agonist treatment. No age or strain differences in key pecking were produced by the combined administration of these dopamine agonists. Therefore, functional coupling of the dopamine D1 and D2 receptors is found within 1 day after hatching in the domestic chick.

2,3,4,5-Tetrahydro-7,8-dihydroxy-1-phenyl-1H-3-ben↗
PubMed1994

Protein accumulation in cerebrospinal fluid during -90 degrees head-down tilt in rabbit.

Plasma proteins are only somewhat larger than the intercellular spaces of the cerebral microvessels that constitute the blood-brain barrier or of the choroid plexus villi that elaborate cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). We hypothesized that the integrity of these barriers in anesthetized rabbits might be compromised during head-down tilt (HDT). Plasma protein and osmolality, hematocrit, and CSF protein concentration were compared in rabbits exposed to 1 h of HDT (n = 20) and prone rabbits (n = 10). In addition, the concentration of trypan blue dye, injected intravenously at the end of HDT or the prone position, was measured in brain homogenate. Finally, arterial blood pressure was measured via a catheterized carotid artery. HDT disrupted the barrier between blood and CSF, as indicated by a significantly (P < 0.01) greater brain trypan blue concentration in the HDT rabbits [172.2 +/- 14.4 (SD) micrograms/g dry wt] than in the prone rabbits (29.8 +/- 4.4 micrograms/g dry wt). Moreover CSF protein 5 min after HDT onset was significantly increased compared with control in HDT rabbits (54.6 +/- 1.9 vs. 81.4 +/- 5.2 mg/dl; n = 8) but not in prone rabbits (55.6 +/- 2.7 vs. 57.2 +/- 5.0 mg/dl; n = 6). Changes in the plasma protein-to-hematocrit ratio in the HDT animals, but not in the prone animals, were also compatible with a loss of fluid from the vascular compartment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Dopamine antagonists produce an age-dependent increase in the responding of the young chick.

In three experiments the effects of dopamine receptor antagonists on response-contingent punishment and autoshape learning of 1- and 4-day-old chicks were determined. In the first two experiments, 1- or 4-day-old chicks (N = 120) were trained to key-peck for heat reward and then injected intraperitoneally (ip) with either haloperidol (1.5, 2.5, or 5.0 mg/kg) or saline (Experiment 1) and with either haloperidol (2.0 mg/kg), sulpiride (50 mg/kg) or saline (Experiment 2) 30 min before a 96-trial response-contingent punishment session. In Experiment 3, 1- and 4-day-old chicks (N = 48) were injected ip with saline or haloperidol (2.0 mg/kg) 30 min prior to a 30-trial autoshape learning session. In both the punishment and appetitive tasks 1-day-old chicks pretreated with either haloperidol (1.5 to 2.5 mg/kg) or sulpiride showed a significant increase in key-peck responding compared with their saline injected controls. In contrast, 4-day-old chicks given either haloperidol (2.0 mg/kg) or sulpiride did not differ significantly from saline treated chicks on the punishment task, and on the autoshape task haloperidol-treated 4-day-old chicks responded on fewer trials than did their saline controls. These results indicate that dopaminergic synaptic transmission in the young chick as measured by dopamine D2 receptor blockers is functionally different at 1 compared with 4 days of age.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1990

Hemodynamic and arrhythmogenic effects of aversive stress during myocardial ischemia.

Pavlovian conditioning was accomplished in two groups of dogs by following a 30-s tone (the CS+) with a short (less than or equal to 1 s) electric shock). An inflatable occluder was implanted around the left circumflex coronary artery in all animals. The CS+ was presented to Group I dogs (n = 6) during control (i.e., no coronary occlusion) and at 30 s and 3 min after the onset of a 4-min left circumflex coronary occlusion. The CS+ evoked a robust increase in heart rate and blood pressure in the control state. A conditional cardiovascular response was still evoked during the acute coronary occlusion despite the evolving myocardial ischemia. No increase in ventricular ectopic beats occurred during the CS+. An anterior myocardial infarction (16.8 +/- 1.7% of left ventricular mass, mean +/- SEM) was created in Group II dogs (n = 8) at the time of surgery. A CS+ was presented, as above, both alone and 1 min after the beginning of a 2-min left circumflex coronary occlusion. There were significant differences in the conditional response in heart rate, left ventricular (systolic) pressure (LVP) and d(LVP)/dt for trials given during the coronary occlusion compared with no occlusion. These dogs were then classified as 'resistant' or 'susceptible' to ventricular arrhythmias approx. 4 weeks later using an exercise and coronary occlusion test. Three of five susceptible dogs, but none of three resistant dogs, evidenced increased severity of arrhythmias during the CS+. We conclude that the nature of the cardiovascular response to behavioral stress during myocardial ischemia depends in part upon the timing of the CS+, the presence or absence of a resident myocardial infarction and the status of the autonomic reflexes controlling the heart.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Ontogenetic changes in [3H]-spiroperidol binding sites in posthatch chick brain.

The ontogenetic development of [3H]-spiroperidol binding sites was measured in the optic tectum, cerebellum, forebrain base, and forebrain roof of 1-, 4-, and 16-day-old chicks. In the chick optic tectum and cerebellum both the density and the total number of [3H]-spiroperidol binding sites increased from 4- to 16-days-posthatch, but no significant differences were found in either brain area across the initial four posthatch days. In the forebrain base, [3H]-spiroperidol receptor density and total binding increased significantly between 1- and 4-days-posthatch, but at 16-days-posthatch there was a slight decrease in receptor density. Binding sites in the forebrain roof were minimal at all ages. As expected, saturation experiments yielded curvilinear plots indicating the presence of high- and low-affinity binding sites. The high-affinity sites probably reflect dopamine D-2 receptors; whereas, the low-affinity sites may reflect other receptor types, possibly serotonin S-2. These results suggest that large doses of haloperidol, which are normally used in chick behavioral research, may produce behavioral effects by antagonizing multiple receptors.

Aging↗
PubMed1987

Effects of apomorphine and haloperidol on response suppression learning of young chicks.

In four experiments, the effects of augmenting or blocking dopamine receptor activity on response suppression learning of Colburn X Colburn chicks were determined. In each experiment, 4-day-old chicks were trained to key peck for heat reward and then tested for response suppression learning by using either a response-contingent punishment or an extinction-punishment task. Before response suppression testing, different groups of chicks were injected ip with apomorphine (1.0, 2.0, or 4.0 mg/kg) either alone or after pretreatment with haloperidol (0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg). Regardless of the response suppression task used, chicks injected with apomorphine had difficulty inhibiting their responding; whereas, chicks injected with haloperidol, either alone or before apomorphine treatment, responded on fewer trials than saline-treated chicks. During extinction testing, 4-day-old chicks given only apomorphine showed the typical suppressive effect of punishment on responding rather than the paradoxical punishment-induced increase in responding found in normal 1-day-old chicks. These results indicate that activation of dopamine receptors retards response suppression learning of the 4-day-old chick, but functional changes in central dopaminergic mechanisms are not primarily responsible for the normal age-dependent improvement in response suppression learning of the young chick.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1987

Motor neuronal function in old Aplysia is improved by long-term stimulation of the siphon/gill reflex.

As Aplysia age, motor neuronal (L7) elicited gill-pinnule contractions are significantly decreased, as is transmission at pinnule junctions. To determine whether this reduced function of L7 with increased age could be altered, the siphon/gill reflex, which involves the L7-pinnule pathway, was stimulated regularly in unrestrained old animals. Aplysia, more than 240 days old, were assigned randomly into trained and untrained groups. For more than 3 weeks, a 1-s, 25-g water jet stimulus was administered to the siphon of the trained animals 10 times per day at 20-min intervals. The duration of siphon withdrawal increased significantly during training. In semi-intact preparations, pinnule contractions and junctional transmissions were then measured during 3-s depolarized pulses to L7 (frequency range = 1-44 per 3-s interval). The trained animals had (a) significantly higher pinnule contractions, (b) a significantly greater increase in pinnule contractions elicited by increasing L7 spike rates, (c) significantly higher double-spike facilitation, and (d) significantly higher facilitation per spike across the four spike trains below or at pinnule contraction threshold. Long-term stimulation of the siphon/gill reflex in old Aplysia did not produce the same functional efficiency observed in mature Aplysia; nevertheless, the significant training-induced increases in both pinnule contraction and junction transmission indicate that a considerable level of plasticity still exists in an aging nervous system. Whether this long-term training of Aplysia retards the same processes responsible for the age-related decline in neuromuscular transmission or produces a compensatory change in other neuronal processes is discussed.

Aging↗
PubMed1982

Age-dependent improvement in passive avoidance learning of the young chick: cholinergic mediation?

Cholinergic mediation of the age-dependent improvement in response suppression of the young chick was studied by determining the performance of 4-day-old chicks, pretreated with scopolamine, during passive avoidance (PA) and extinction testing. In Experiment 1, chicks were trained briefly to key peck for heat reward (prepunishment training), and then tested for PA learning under immediate, 2-sec-delayed, or no shock condition. Half of the chicks in each wing-shock (5 mA, 5 sec) condition received saline injections before prepunishment training and .5 mg/kg scopolamine injections after prepunishment training. The rest of the chicks received .5 mg/kg scopolamine injections both before and after prepunishment training. For chicks in both scopolamine groups, delaying shock onset resulted in significantly less response suppression than immediate response-contingent shock. In Experiment 2, 4-day-old chicks injected with either saline or scopolamine were trained to key peck for heat reward and then tested for resistance to extinction under either response-contingent shock or nonshock conditions. Punishment decreased the number of extinction responses for both saline and scopolamine groups of chicks. Previous studies have shown that normal 1-day-old chicks do not show a significant delay of punishment effect during PA testing and that response-contingent punishment increases the number of their responses during extinction. Hence, the results of the present experiments indicate that the age-dependent improvement in response suppression of the young chick cannot be explained solely by a significant increase in central cholinergic functioning.

Aging↗
PubMed1981

The effect of para-chlorophenylalanine and scopolamine on passive avoidance in chicks.

Four-day-old Vantress x Arbor Acre chicks were treated for key-peck passive avoidance (PA) learning following intraperitoneal injections of parachlorophenylalanine (PCPA) and/or scopolamine. In Experiment 1, chicks were pre-treated with either three or five injections of PCPA (150 mg/kg) or saline across th first three posthatch days and then tested for PA learning on the fourth posthatch day. In Experiment 2, chicks were first pre-treated with three injections of PCPA (150 mg/kg) or saline, and then injected with either scopolamine (0.5 mg/kg) or saline 20 min prior to PA testing on the fourth posthatch day. Major findings were: (a) Chicks pre-treated with PCPA did not significantly differ from saline control chicks in either the acquisition or maintenance of response suppression during PA testing; (b) chicks injected with scopolamine were significantly disrupted in PA learning as compared to saline control chicks; and (c) PCPA pre-treatment did not significantly affect the scopolamine-induced disruption of PA learning. These findings, therefore, suggest that cholinergic, but not serotonergic, mechanisms are involved in PA learning of the young chick.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Ontogeny of passive avoidance learning in domestic chicks: punishment of key-peck and running responses.

The effect of the number of prepunishment acquisition trials on the age dependency of passive avoidance (PA) learning of the Vantress X Arbor Acre chick was determined in both key-peck and runway tests. In nine experiments, 1- and 4-day-old chicks were first trained to respond for heat reward, and then, following a variable number of reinforced acquisition trials, the chicks' responses were punished with aversive wing shocks. The major finding of these experiments was that the age dependency of PA learning of the young chick is related specifically to the number of reinforced training trials given prior to PA testing. When a large number of prepunishment acquisition trials were given, 1-day-old chicks learned as quickly as 4-day-old chicks to withhold responding when punished. However, when only a few acquisition trials preceded PA testing, 1-day-old chicks showed significantly less response suppression than 4-day-old chicks. These acquisition effects indicate that the age-dependent changes in PA learning of the chick are not solely due to developmental changes in general inhibitory ability. Rather, these PA results suggest that the 1-day-old chick, compared with the 4-day-old chick, is deficient in learning, or detecting changes in, stimulus- and/or response-reinforcement contingencies.

Aging↗
PubMed1975

Form preferences in successive discrimination learning of young chicks.

In four experiments the effects of form and orientation pecking preferences of 1- and 3-day old Vantress X Arbor Acre chicks on successive discrimination learning were determined, using heat reinforcement. Major findings were as follows: (a) The young chick has both circle and verticle orientation pecking preferences that are present during at least the first 3 days after hatching; (b) when either of these preferred cues is the nonreinforced cue, the young chick has difficulty in learning not to respond to it but learns quickly not to respond to an unpreferred cue (e.g., triangle and horizontal oriented dots or bar); and (c) these pecking preferences can be modified by heat reinforcement, and the effects of this conditioning is evidenct in subsequent extinction and retention tests. The main conclusion from these experiments is that form and orientation preferences, like brightness and color preferences, are important developmental constraints on conditioning of the young chick.

Age Factors↗