Universidad Nacional de Colombia

4 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Behavior

Fear Incubation Using an Extended Fear-Conditioning Protocol for Rats

César Acevedo-Triana^1,6, Javier L. Rico², Leonardo A. Ortega², Melissa Andrea N. Cardenas³, Fernando P. Cardenas³, Manuel J. Rojas⁴, Juan Carlos Forigua-Vargas², Julián Cifuentes², Camilo Hurtado-Parrado^2,5

¹School of Psychology, Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, ²Animal Behavior Laboratory, Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz, ³Department of Psychology, Universidad de Los Andes, ⁴School of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Health Department, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, ⁵Department of Psychology, Troy University, ⁶Department of Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

We describe an extended fear-conditioning protocol that produces overtraining and fear incubation in rats. This protocol entails a single training session with 25 tone-shock pairings (i.e., overtraining) and a comparison of conditioned freezing responses during context and cue tests 48 h (short-term) and 6 weeks (long-term) after training.

Neuroscience

Stereocilia Bundle Imaging with Nanoscale Resolution in Live Mammalian Auditory Hair Cells

Carolina Galeano-Naranjo^1,2, A. Catalina Veléz-Ortega¹, Gregory I Frolenkov¹

¹Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, ²Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Here we present a protocol for the Hopping Probe Ion Conductance Microscopy (HPICM), a non-contact scanning probe technique that allows nanoscale imaging of stereocilia bundles in live auditory hair cells.

Education

Electric and Magnetic Field Devices for Stimulation of Biological Tissues

Juan José Saiz Culma^1,2, Juan Felipe Escobar Huertas^2,3, Diego Alexander Garzón-Alvarado^1,2, Juan Jairo Vaca-Gonzalez^1,4

¹Biomimetics Laboratory, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, ²Numerical Methods and Modeling Research Group (GNUM), Universidad Nacional de Colombia, ³Design, Analysis and Development of Engineering Systems Research group (GIDAD), Fundación Universitaria Los Libertadores, ⁴School of Health and Sports Sciences, Master Program in Epidemiology, Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina

This protocol describes the step-by-step process to build both electrical and magnetic stimulators used to stimulate biological tissues. The protocol includes a guideline to simulate computationally electric and magnetic fields and manufacture of stimulator devices.

Developmental Biology

Multi-Photon Laser Ablation of Cytoplasmic Microtubule Organizing Centers in Mouse Oocytes

Daniela Londoño-Vásquez^1,2, Alexander Jurkevich³, Ahmed Z. Balboula¹

¹Animal Sciences Research Center, University of Missouri, ²Universidad Nacional de Colombia, ³Advanced Light Microscopy Core, University of Missouri

An optimized protocol is presented that enables the depletion of cytoplasmic microtubule organizing centers in mouse oocytes during metaphase I using a near-infrared femtosecond laser.