Department of Psychology

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Browsing Department of Psychology by Author "Adams, Michelle Marie"

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    Expression levels of SMAD specific E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 2 (Smurf2) and its interacting partners show region-specific alterations during brain aging
    (Elsevier, 2020) Tüz-Şaşik, Melek Umay; Karoğlu-Eravşar, Elif Tuğce; Kınalı, M.; Arslan-Ergül, A.; Adams, Michelle Marie
    Aging occurs due to a combination of several factors, such as telomere attrition, cellular senescence, and stem cell exhaustion. The telomere attrition-dependent cellular senescence is regulated by increased levels of SMAD specific E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 2 (smurf2). With age smurf2 expression increases and Smurf2 protein interacts with several regulatory proteins including, Smad7, Ep300, Yy1, Sirt1, Mdm2, and Tp53, likely affecting its function related to cellular aging. The current study aimed at analyzing smurf2 expression in the aged brain because of its potential regulatory roles in the cellular aging process. Zebrafish were used because like humans they age gradually and their genome has 70% similarity. In the current study, we demonstrated that smurf2 gene and protein expression levels altered in a region-specific manner during the aging process. Also, in both young and old brains, Smurf2 protein was enriched in the cytosol. These results imply that during aging Smurf2 is regulated by several mechanisms including post-translational modifications (PTMs) and complex formation. Also, the expression levels of its interacting partners defined by the STRING database, tp53, mdm2, ep300a, yy1a, smad7, and sirt1, were analyzed. Multivariate analysis indicated that smurf2, ep300a, and sirt1, whose proteins regulate ubiquitination, acetylation, and deacetylation of target proteins including Smad7 and Tp53, showed age- and brain region-dependent patterns. Our data suggest a likely balance between Smurf2- and Mdm2-mediated ubiquitination, and Ep300a-mediated acetylation/Sirt1-mediated deacetylation, which most possibly affects the functionality of other interacting partners in regulating cellular and synaptic aging and ultimately cognitive dysfunction.
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    Zebrafish optomotor response to second-order motion illustrates that age-related changes in motion detection depend on the activated motion system
    (Elsevier Inc., 2023-06-10) Karaduman, Ayşenur; Karoğlu-Eravşar, Elif Tuğçe; Kaya, Utku; Aydın, Alaz; Adams, Michelle Marie; Kafalıgönül, Hulusi
    Various aspects of visual functioning, including motion perception, change with age. Yet, there is a lack of comprehensive understanding of age-related alterations at different stages of motion processing and in each motion system. To understand the effects of aging on second-order motion processing, we investigated optomotor responses (OMR) in younger and older wild-type (AB-strain) and acetylcholinesterase (achesb55/+) mutant zebrafish. The mutant fish with decreased levels of acetylcholinesterase have been shown to have delayed age-related cognitive decline. Compared to previous results on first-order motion, we found distinct changes in OMR to second-order motion. The polarity of OMR was dependent on age, such that second-order stimulation led to mainly negative OMR in the younger group while older zebrafish had positive responses. Hence, these findings revealed an overall aging effect on the detection of second-order motion. Moreover, neither the genotype of zebrafish nor the spatial frequency of motion significantly changed the response magnitude. Our findings support the view that age-related changes in motion detection depend on the activated motion system. © 2023 Elsevier Inc.