Ana João Rodrigues

This study shows that hippocampal astrocytes encode context-specific aversive stimuli to regulate fear-related behavior through Ca2+ activity preceding freezing responses.

The paper identifies valence-specific neuronal ensembles in the laterodorsal tegmentum that encode salient stimuli and modulate motivated behavior through optogenetic reactivation.

The paper identifies distinct neuronal ensembles in the nucleus accumbens activated by cocaine and foot shock, showing different functional roles in reward and aversion.

This study shows that loss of normal Tau function in the adult brain causes neuronal atrophy, epigenetic changes, and cognitive/mood deficits, which can be reversed by Tau re-expression or epigenetic correction.

The paper introduces hpGRISZ, a fluorescent biosensor for in vivo imaging of synaptic zinc dynamics, showing high responsiveness and suitability for detecting extracellular zinc release.

This study shows that cocaine-induced changes in cholinergic projections from the LDT to the NAc bidirectionally affect cocaine's reinforcing effects.

The paper shows that D1- and D2-MSNs in the NAc shell encode appetitive and aversive stimuli and their extinction, with D2-MSNs playing a key role in aversive association extinction.

The paper examines how maternal depressive symptoms and hair cortisol concentration during pregnancy predict neonatal corpus callosum integrity using MRI and DTI data.

This study examines how D1- and D2-neurons in the nucleus accumbens encode positive and aversive associations during Pavlovian conditioning, showing dynamic changes in their activity.

This study examines the long-term effects of prenatal synthetic glucocorticoid exposure on adolescent brain structure and function using MRI, finding no structural differences but altered functional connectivity.

This study shows that activating D2-MSN projections to the ventral pallidum increases anxious-like behavior in mice, linked to reduced GABAergic activity in the VP.

This study shows that D2-MSN projections to the ventral pallidum have opposing effects on motivation depending on the phase of motivated behavior.

This study shows that AP2gamma deficiency in mice reduces hippocampal neurogenesis and causes lasting behavioral deficits from juvenile to adult stages.

The paper integrates differential gene expression with WGCNA to identify aging-related expression signatures in mouse tissues, revealing common proteostasis pathways across multiple organs.

The paper shows that the cerebral cortex operates near a critical phase transition in spiking variability, with critical exponents distinct from mean-field directed percolation.