USS Bits and Bytes - Electronic Newsletter of the Miami U niversity's Undergraduate Summer Scholars Program (USS)

Vol. 1, #1, August 22, 1997

Morphological Changes of Superior Cervical Ganglion Cell Bodies Following Nerve Growth
Summer 1997 project of Sheila R. Collins under the mentorship of Dr. Lori G. Isaacson, Department of Zoology

Photo of Sheila Collins Sheila Collins begins her explanation of her Summer Scholar's project with a sketch. In it she draws two simple circles connected by a line. The actual complexity of the system is unclear until she labels her drawing: circle A represents the superior cervical ganglion in the brain, circle B refers to the middle cerebral artery and the line is the pathway of axons and dendrites from the ganglion to the artery. Like her drawing, her project under the mentorship of Dr. Lori Isaacson, attempts to simplify another complex and unclear picture: the effect of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) on the characteristics of nerve cells in the superior cervical ganglion (SCG) of the brain.

The interest in Nerve Growth Factor is universal. While researchers are unsure how it works, it appears to cause nerve cells to "sprout" and extend into new areas. Such a stimulus would be especially beneficial to patients with maladies like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's Disease. Sheila's current project is somewhat an extension of a project her mentor completed a few years ago. This time, instead of using HRP as a tracer to identify the presence of Nerve Growth Factor in cells, a different tracer called Neurobitin is being used. Both Sheila and Dr. Isaacson believe that Neurobitin will infiltrate nerve cells better than HRP.

Since the tracer takes awhile to infiltrate the superior cervical ganglion, during the first half of Sheila's project she had time to familiarize herself with lab procedure. Specifically, Sheila utilized two different procedures to analyze tissue samples from the superior ganglion of rats: one for the light microscope and the other for the electron microscope. Compared to the series of steps to prepare tissue for the light microscope, the preparation process for the electron microscope is painstaking work. However, Sheila recognizes the rewards of her such work as she views sections of cells under the electron microscope approximately 80 nanometers thin. In theory, the Nerve Growth Factor and the tracer enter the brain's middle cerebral artery and from there move to the SCG. Analyzing the cells under the microscopes will hopefully reveal evidence of such movement.

While she is just beginning to view the samples she prepared, Sheila already sees evidence of Neurobitin and Nerve Growth Factor in the harvested cells. Such results indicate that Neurobitin is successfully tracing the path of Nerve Growth Factor to the cells. However, the disadvantage to using Neurobitin is the lag time after injection until the cells are ready to be harvested. Based on this factor, other methods of tracing NGF may be more effective.

This summer, Sheila greatly increased her knowledge and familiarity with lab procedures. In the larger scope of things, the focus of the study directly relates to her interest in neuroscience. As her senior capstone experience, she will continue to research in the fall and at the same time search for graduate schools. Hopefully, her knowledge and experience from the summer will help her bridge the gap from undergraduate school to a graduate education.

Sheila Collins is one of 120 Miami University undergraduates who participated in the 1997 Undergraduate Summer Scholars (USS) Program. This University program is an initiative aimed at heightening the intellectual challenge of the learning environment at Miami University. This program enables Miami undergraduates to do research or other creative activities in the summer under the supervision of faculty.

In 1997, some of the USS activities were supported by a National Science Foundation Grant to Miami University entitled "Creating a Research-Rich Curriculum: A Model for Lifelong and Continuous Learning" (DUE-9652063, Dr. J.A. Czaja, PI). This funding was provided under the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education's program on Institution-Wide Reform of Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology.

Summary and Photo by Cindy (Cynthia) Bubb, a Mass Communication major with a minor in Marketing, Miami University class of 1998.