The comorbidities (e.g., depression and anxiety) often shared by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and epilepsy patients can increase the burden of disease. Antiseizure drugs (ASDs) can affect anxiety-like behaviors of laboratory rodents; however, there is a need to better quantify the effects of therapeutically relevant doses of ASDs across age and sex. This project characterized the pharmacological sensitivity and feasibility of a rodent light-dark (LD) box assay. We hypothesized that there were age- and sex-related differences in anxiety-like behaviors and that these behaviors could be acutely modified with ASDs. Each mouse was first challenged in an open field (OF) behavioral assay to establish baseline anxiety-like behavioral phenotype. Spending more time in the center of the OF is indicative of generally reduced anxiety-like behavior. Twenty-four hours later, I randomized female and male wild-type mice aged 1-2 or 6-7 months across four intraperitoneal (IP) treatment groups: lamotrigine, levetiracetam, FG-7142, or vehicle (VEH). I selected FG-7142 as a positive control. I administered each agent before assessing anxiety-like behavior in the LD box assay. Spending more time in the dark compartment is indicative of generally heightened anxiety-like behavior. Preliminary findings indicate that female mice aged 6-months-old ambulated significantly more in the OF prior to the drug administration session (t=2.894, p=0.055). Similarly, males spent a greater percentage of their total vertical activity in the center of the OF (t=3.458, p=0.0011), suggesting generally reduced anxiety-like behaviors. LD box findings suggest that the percent of total distance traveled in the light was markedly affected by acute ASD treatment (F(3,45)=3.386, p=0.0261). Post-hoc Dunnett’s test indicated that levetiracetam administration to 6-month-old female mice reduced time spent in the light, suggesting increased anxiety-like behavior with this treatment (p=0.0374). Overall, this study established a sensitive assay to subsequently assess anxiety-like behavioral comorbidities in rodent models of neurological disease, including AD and epilepsy.

Between 1946 and 1958, the United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, a country in Oceania composed of volcanic islands and coral atolls. The Burke Museum holds biological specimens collected from the Marshall Islands as part of a project sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission. I am locating, contextualing, and digitizing these specimens in order to democratize access to this biological and cultural information. I am locating as many specimens as possible in the Burke Museum collected during and after this nuclear testing period, beginning in the Herbarium. I am then digitizing these specimens by imaging, databasing, and georeferencing them. There was also an opportunity to test these samples for radiation. I am collaborating with colleagues to contextualize the specimens culturally, and bring attention to the University’s involvement in this part of our nation’s history. Overall, we aim to make this information freely available online so that communities have access to knowledge and resources to inform their decisions. Early investigation suggests that samples exist in at least the ornithological, invertebrate, and botanical (Herbarium) collections, but the total number of specimens remains unknown. This is an opportunity to unite multiple departments in the Burke Museum as we make connections across cultural and biological collections. Ultimately, this research addresses the ethical implications of the University’s scientific past and makes the specimen data of the Burke Museum more accessible.