Serena Becchi

• PostDoc Position at UNSW Sydney

Compulsive actions have been confusingly described as reflecting both excessive habitual and excessive goal-directed action control. Here we sought to resolve this contradiction by inducing the neuropathology commonly observed in individuals with compulsive disorders, specifically by causing neuroinflammation in the dorsomedial striatum of rats. We...

Hippocampal neuroinflammation is present in multiple diseases and disorders that impact motivated behaviour in a sex-specific manner, but whether neuroinflammation alone is sufficient to disrupt such behaviour is unknown. We investigated this question here using mice. First, application of the endotoxin and neuroinflammatory mimetic Lipopolysacchar...

Individuals often learn how to perform new actions for particular outcomes against a complex background of existing action-outcome associations. As such, this new knowledge can interfere or even compete with existing knowledge, such that individuals must use internal and external cues to determine which action is appropriate to the current situatio...

The loss of neurons in parafascicular thalamus (Pf) and their inputs to dorsomedial striatum (DMS) in Lewy body disease (LBD) and Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) have been linked to the effects of neuroinflammation. We found that, in rats, these inputs were necessary for both the function of striatal cholinergic interneurons (CINs) and the flexi...

Cognitive-behavioral testing in preclinical models of Alzheimer’s disease has failed to capture deficits in goal-directed action control. Here, we provide the first comprehensive investigation of goal-directed action in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Specifically, we tested outcome devaluation performance in male and female human...

Chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) impairs cognitive flexibility in rats, particularly when faced with additional mild acute stress (AS). We tested the hypothesis that this impairment is associated with alterations in dopamine activity in the dorsal striatum driven by corticotropin-releasing-factor receptor type 1 (CRFR1) in the substantia nigra pa...

Rationale Attempts to lose weight often fail despite knowledge of the health risks associated with obesity and determined efforts. We previously showed that rodents fed an obesogenic diet displayed premature habitual behavioural control and weakened flexible decision-making based on the current value of outcomes produced by their behaviour. Thus, h...

The loss of neurons in parafascicular thalamus (Pf) and of their inputs to dorsomedial striatum (DMS) are associated with Lewy body disease (LBD) and Parkinsons disease dementia (PDD) and have been linked to the effects of neuroinflammation. In rats, these inputs regulate the function of striatal cholinergic interneurons (CINs) that are necessary f...

Cognitive-behavioural testing in preclinical models of Alzheimer's disease has typically been limited to visuo-spatial memory tests and has failed to capture the broad scope of deficits patients also display in goal-directed action control. The current study addresses this gap by providing the first comprehensive investigation of how goal-directed...

Stress reduces cognitive flexibility and dopamine D1 receptor-related activity in the prelimbic cortex (PL), effects hypothesized to depend on reduced corticotropic releasing factor receptor type 1 (CRFr1) regulation of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). We assessed this hypothesis in rats by examining the effect of chronic unpre...

Background Changes in dopaminergic neural function can be induced by an acute inflammatory state that, by altering the integrity of the neurovasculature, induces neuronal stress, cell death and causes functional deficits. Effectively blocking these effects of inflammation could, therefore, reduce both neuronal and functional decline. To test this h...

Background Changes in dopaminergic neural function can be induced by an acute inflammatory state that, by altering the integrity of the neurovasculature, induces neuronal stress, cell death and causes functional deficits. Effectively blocking these effects of inflammation could, therefore, reduce both neuronal and functional decline. To test this h...

Background and purpose: Neuroinflammation is initiated by a variety of stimuli including infections, sepsis, neurodegenerative diseases or traumatic brain injury and if not adequately controlled can lead to various degrees of neuronal damage and behavioural impairment. A critical event in the initial steps of inflammation is neutrophil extravasati...

Studies of Quantum Dots (QDs) biodistribution have shown that these nanoparticles accumulate in various organs, including brain parenchyma, possibly causing functional alterations. To investigate its potential neurotoxicity, we administered QDs to young mice and studied their behaviour during the following weeks. Spontaneous locomotor behaviour in...

Biocompatible highly bright silica nanoparticles were designed, prepared and tested in small living organisms for both in vivo and ex vivo imaging. The results that we report here demonstrate that they are suitable for optical imaging applications as a possible alternative to commercially available fluorescent materials including quantum dots. More...

The development of major depression requires both genetic and environmental factors. A brain proteomic investigation on the genetic model of Flinders sensitive and resistant line (FSL-FRL) rats was performed. Maternal separation (MS) was also applied to identify protein networks affected by stress exposure, since early-life trauma is considered an...

Availability of peripheral biomarkers for depression could aid diagnosis and help to predict treatment response. The objective of this work was to analyse the peripheral biomarker response in a gene-environment interaction model of depression. Genetically selected Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) rats were subjected to maternal separation (MS), since...