All Outputs (44)

Morphological and Chemical Changes in the Trophozoites and Cysts of Acanthamoeba Castellanii Induced by Camellia Sinensis Extracts (2025)
Journal Article
Fakae, L. B., Zhong, J., Chan, K. L. A., Mekapothula, S., Cave, G. W., Zhu, X.-Q., Stevenson, C. W., & Elsheikha, H. M. (2025). Morphological and Chemical Changes in the Trophozoites and Cysts of Acanthamoeba Castellanii Induced by Camellia Sinensis Extracts. Acta Parasitologica, 70(2), Article 63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-024-00941-9

Purpose: Acanthamoeba castellanii is an important opportunistic human protozoal pathogen that can cause both skin, ocular and brain infections. Recent studies have established that brews and solvent extract (SE) of green tea (Camellia sinensis) can i... Read More about Morphological and Chemical Changes in the Trophozoites and Cysts of Acanthamoeba Castellanii Induced by Camellia Sinensis Extracts.

Too little and too much: medial prefrontal functional inhibition impairs early acquisition of operant reversal learning, whereas medial prefrontal disinhibition impairs established serial-reversal performance in rats (2025)
Preprint / Working Paper
Renstrom, J. G., Taylor, C. J. L., Grasmeder Allen, R., Loayza, J., O'Hara, L., von Heimendahl, M., Deiana, S., Moran, P. M., Stevenson, C. W., Maggi, S. G., & Bast, T. (2025). Too little and too much: medial prefrontal functional inhibition impairs early acquisition of operant reversal learning, whereas medial prefrontal disinhibition impairs established serial-reversal performance in rats

Schizophrenia has been linked to hypofrontality (reduced prefrontal activation) and neural disinhibition (reduced GABAergic inhibition) within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), as well as reversal learning deficits. Interestingly, whilst re... Read More about Too little and too much: medial prefrontal functional inhibition impairs early acquisition of operant reversal learning, whereas medial prefrontal disinhibition impairs established serial-reversal performance in rats.

Effects of manipulating prefrontal activity and dopamine D1 receptor signalling in an appetitive feature-negative discrimination learning task (2024)
Journal Article
Hock, R. M., Owusu-Amoah, N., Waite, L., Muir, C., Stevenson, C. W., Bonardi, C., & Cassaday, H. J. (2024). Effects of manipulating prefrontal activity and dopamine D1 receptor signalling in an appetitive feature-negative discrimination learning task. Behavioral Neuroscience, 138(6), 420-432. https://doi.org/10.1037/bne0000603

Healthy cognition requires inhibitory modulation of associative learning; conversely, impaired inhibitory discrimination is implicated in behavioral disorders. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and its dopamine innervation are key to understanding... Read More about Effects of manipulating prefrontal activity and dopamine D1 receptor signalling in an appetitive feature-negative discrimination learning task.

Dopamine D1-like receptors modulate synchronized oscillations in the hippocampal–prefrontal–amygdala circuit in contextual fear (2023)
Journal Article
Stubbendorff, C., Hale, E., Bast, T., Cassaday, H. J., Martin, S. J., Suwansawang, S., Halliday, D. M., & Stevenson, C. W. (2023). Dopamine D1-like receptors modulate synchronized oscillations in the hippocampal–prefrontal–amygdala circuit in contextual fear. Scientific Reports, 13, Article 17631. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-44772-6

Contextual fear conditioning (CFC) is mediated by a neural circuit that includes the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala, but the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the regulation of CFC by neuromodulators remain unclear. Dopamine D1-l... Read More about Dopamine D1-like receptors modulate synchronized oscillations in the hippocampal–prefrontal–amygdala circuit in contextual fear.

Attitudes to the use of animals in biomedical research: Effects of stigma and selected research project summaries (2023)
Journal Article
Cassaday, H. J., Cavenagh, L., Aluthgamage, H., Crooks, A., Bonardi, C., Stevenson, C. W., Waite, L., & Muir, C. (2023). Attitudes to the use of animals in biomedical research: Effects of stigma and selected research project summaries. PLoS ONE, 18(8), Article e0290232. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290232

Three groups of participants (largely recruited from the UK) completed a survey to examine attitudes to the use of animals in biomedical research, after reading the lay (N = 182) or technical (N = 201) summary of a research project, or no summary (N... Read More about Attitudes to the use of animals in biomedical research: Effects of stigma and selected research project summaries.

Pharmacological modulation of Kv3 voltage-gated potassium channels regulates fear discrimination and expression in a response-dependent manner (2023)
Journal Article
Stubbendorff, C., Hale, E., Day, H. L. L., Smith, J., Alvaro, G. S., Large, C. H., & Stevenson, C. W. (2023). Pharmacological modulation of Kv3 voltage-gated potassium channels regulates fear discrimination and expression in a response-dependent manner. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 127, Article 110829. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2023.110829

Various psychiatric diseases are characterized by aberrant cognition and emotional regulation. This includes inappropriately attributing affective salience to innocuous cues, which can be investigated using translationally relevant preclinical models... Read More about Pharmacological modulation of Kv3 voltage-gated potassium channels regulates fear discrimination and expression in a response-dependent manner.

From safety to frustration: The neural substrates of inhibitory learning in aversive and appetitive conditioning procedures (2023)
Journal Article
Cassaday, H. J., Muir, C., Stevenson, C. W., Bonardi, C., Hock, R., & Waite, L. (2023). From safety to frustration: The neural substrates of inhibitory learning in aversive and appetitive conditioning procedures. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 202, Article 107757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2023.107757

Inhibitory associative learning counters the effects of excitatory learning, whether appetitively or aversively motivated. Moreover, the affective responses accompanying the inhibitory associations are of opponent valence to the excitatory conditione... Read More about From safety to frustration: The neural substrates of inhibitory learning in aversive and appetitive conditioning procedures.

Endocannabinoid metabolism inhibition has no effect on spontaneous fear recovery or extinction resistance in Lister hooded rats (2022)
Journal Article
Warren, W. G., Papagianni, E. P., Hale, E., Brociek, R. A., Cassaday, H. J., & Stevenson, C. W. (2022). Endocannabinoid metabolism inhibition has no effect on spontaneous fear recovery or extinction resistance in Lister hooded rats. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 13, Article 1082760. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.1082760

Endocannabinoid transmission is emerging as a target for treating anxiety-related disorders, given its regulation of fear extinction. Boosting anandamide levels via inhibition of its metabolism by fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) can enhance extinct... Read More about Endocannabinoid metabolism inhibition has no effect on spontaneous fear recovery or extinction resistance in Lister hooded rats.

Camellia sinensis solvent extract, epigallocatechin gallate and caffeine confer trophocidal and cysticidal effects against Acanthamoeba castellanii (2022)
Journal Article
Fakae, L. B., Harun, M. S., Ting, D. S. J., Dua, H. S., Cave, G. W., Zhu, X. Q., Stevenson, C. W., & Elsheikha, H. M. (2023). Camellia sinensis solvent extract, epigallocatechin gallate and caffeine confer trophocidal and cysticidal effects against Acanthamoeba castellanii. Acta Tropica, 237, Article 106729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actatropica.2022.106729

We examined the anti-acanthamoebic efficacy of green tea Camellia sinensis solvent extract (SE) or its chemical constituents against Acanthamoeba castellanii by using anti-trophozoite, anti-encystation, and anti-excystation assays. C. sinensis SE (62... Read More about Camellia sinensis solvent extract, epigallocatechin gallate and caffeine confer trophocidal and cysticidal effects against Acanthamoeba castellanii.

Cannabidiol Prevents Spontaneous Fear Recovery after Extinction and Ameliorates Stress-Induced Extinction Resistance (2022)
Journal Article
Papagianni, E. P., Warren, W. G., Cassaday, H. J., & Stevenson, C. W. (2022). Cannabidiol Prevents Spontaneous Fear Recovery after Extinction and Ameliorates Stress-Induced Extinction Resistance. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(16), Article 9333. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23169333

Cannabidiol, the main non-psychotropic constituent of cannabis, has potential as a treatment for anxiety-related disorders since it reduces learned fear expression and enhances fear extinction. The return of fear over time after successful extinction... Read More about Cannabidiol Prevents Spontaneous Fear Recovery after Extinction and Ameliorates Stress-Induced Extinction Resistance.

URB597 induces subtle changes to aggression in adult Lister Hooded rats (2022)
Journal Article
Warren, W. G., Hale, E., Papagianni, E. P., Cassaday, H. J., Stevenson, C. W., & Stubbendorff, C. (2022). URB597 induces subtle changes to aggression in adult Lister Hooded rats. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, Article 885146. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.885146

The endocannabinoid system has been implicated in both social and cognitive processing. The endocannabinoid metabolism inhibitor, URB597, dose-dependently improves non-social memory in adult Wistar and Sprague Dawley rats, whereas its effect on socia... Read More about URB597 induces subtle changes to aggression in adult Lister Hooded rats.

Illuminating Host-Parasite Interaction at the Cellular and Subcellular Levels with Infrared Microspectroscopy (2022)
Journal Article
Elsheikha, H. M., Al-Sandaqchi, A. T., Harun, M. S., Winterton, F., Altharawi, A., Elsaied, N. A., Stevenson, C. W., MacNaughtan, W., Mina, J. G., Denny, P. W., Cinque, G., & Chan, K. L. A. (2022). Illuminating Host-Parasite Interaction at the Cellular and Subcellular Levels with Infrared Microspectroscopy. Cells, 11(5), Article 811. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11050811

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is an opportunistic protozoan that can cause brain infection and other serious health consequences in immuno-compromised individuals. This parasite has a remarkable ability to cross biological barriers and exploit the ho... Read More about Illuminating Host-Parasite Interaction at the Cellular and Subcellular Levels with Infrared Microspectroscopy.

Hippocampal Disinhibition Reduces Contextual and Elemental Fear Conditioning While Sparing the Acquisition of Latent Inhibition (2022)
Journal Article
Williams, S. A., Gwilt, M., Hock, R., Taylor, C., Loayza, J., Stevenson, C. W., Cassaday, H. J., & Bast, T. (2022). Hippocampal Disinhibition Reduces Contextual and Elemental Fear Conditioning While Sparing the Acquisition of Latent Inhibition. eNeuro, 9(1), ENEURO.0270-21.2021. https://doi.org/10.1523/eneuro.0270-21.2021

Hippocampal neural disinhibition, i.e., reduced GABAergic inhibition, is a key feature of schizophrenia pathophysiology. The hippocampus is an important part of the neural circuitry that controls fear conditioning and can also modulate prefrontal and... Read More about Hippocampal Disinhibition Reduces Contextual and Elemental Fear Conditioning While Sparing the Acquisition of Latent Inhibition.

Strain comparisons in inhibitory discrimination learning and novel object recognition procedures (2021)
Journal Article
Waite, L., Bonardi, C., Stevenson, C. W., & Cassaday, H. J. (2021). Strain comparisons in inhibitory discrimination learning and novel object recognition procedures. Physiology and Behavior, 240, Article 113557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2021.113557

Strain differences in visual abilities and exploratory tendencies can confound rats’ performance in cognitive tests of learning and memory. In the present study we compared the performance of albino Wistar and pigmented Lister Hooded rats in appetiti... Read More about Strain comparisons in inhibitory discrimination learning and novel object recognition procedures.

Hippocampal disinhibition reduces contextual and elemental fear conditioning while sparing the acquisition of latent inhibition (2021)
Preprint / Working Paper
Williams, S. A., Gwilt, M., Hock, R., Taylor, C., Loayza, J., Stevenson, C. W., Cassaday, H. J., & Bast, T. Hippocampal disinhibition reduces contextual and elemental fear conditioning while sparing the acquisition of latent inhibition

Hippocampal neural disinhibition, i.e. reduced GABAergic inhibition, is a key feature of schizophrenia pathophysiology. The hippocampus is an important part of the neural circuitry that controls fear conditioning and can also modulate prefrontal and... Read More about Hippocampal disinhibition reduces contextual and elemental fear conditioning while sparing the acquisition of latent inhibition.

In it together? The case for endocannabinoid–noradrenergic interactions in fear extinction (2021)
Journal Article
Warren, W. G., Papagianni, E. P., Stevenson, C. W., & Stubbendorff, C. (2022). In it together? The case for endocannabinoid–noradrenergic interactions in fear extinction. European Journal of Neuroscience, 55(4), 952-970. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15200

Anxiety and trauma-related disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are debilitating mental illnesses with great personal and socioeconomic costs. Examining memory formation and relevant behavioural responding associated with aversiv... Read More about In it together? The case for endocannabinoid–noradrenergic interactions in fear extinction.

Could cannabidiol be a treatment for coronavirus disease-19-related anxiety disorders? (2020)
Journal Article
O'Sullivan, S. E., Stevenson, C. W., & Laviolette, S. R. (2021). Could cannabidiol be a treatment for coronavirus disease-19-related anxiety disorders?. Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, 6(1), 7-18. https://doi.org/10.1089/can.2020.0102

© Copyright 2021, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 2021. Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19)-related anxiety and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are likely to be a significant long-term issue emerging fr... Read More about Could cannabidiol be a treatment for coronavirus disease-19-related anxiety disorders?.

Structural, functional, and metabolic alterations in human cerebrovascular endothelial cells during toxoplasma gondii infection and amelioration by verapamil in vitro (2020)
Journal Article
Al-Sandaqchi, A. T., Marsh, V., Williams, H. E. L., Stevenson, C. W., & Elsheikha, H. M. (2020). Structural, functional, and metabolic alterations in human cerebrovascular endothelial cells during toxoplasma gondii infection and amelioration by verapamil in vitro. Microorganisms, 8(9), Article 1386. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8091386

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), the causative agent of toxoplasmosis, is a frequent cause of brain infection. Despite its known ability to invade the brain, there is still a dire need to better... Read More about Structural, functional, and metabolic alterations in human cerebrovascular endothelial cells during toxoplasma gondii infection and amelioration by verapamil in vitro.

In vitro activity of Camellia sinensis (green tea) against trophozoites and cysts of Acanthamoeba castellanii (2020)
Journal Article
Fakae, L. B., Stevenson, C. W., Zhu, X. Q., & Elsheikha, H. M. (2020). In vitro activity of Camellia sinensis (green tea) against trophozoites and cysts of Acanthamoeba castellanii. International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance, 13, 59-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpddr.2020.05.001

© 2020 The Author(s) The effect of Camellia sinensis (green tea) on the growth of Acanthamoeba castellanii trophozoites was examined using a microplate based-Sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. C. sinensis hot and cold brews at 75% and 100% concentrations... Read More about In vitro activity of Camellia sinensis (green tea) against trophozoites and cysts of Acanthamoeba castellanii.

Dopamine regulation of contextual fear and associated neural circuit function (2020)
Journal Article
Stevenson, C. W., & Stubbendorff, C. (2021). Dopamine regulation of contextual fear and associated neural circuit function. European Journal of Neuroscience, 54(8), 6933-6947. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.14772

© 2020 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience published by Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Learning to associate certain contexts with threat and adapting to changing environmental contingencies by lea... Read More about Dopamine regulation of contextual fear and associated neural circuit function.