Biology subjects

Vasconcelos, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Vasconcelos, M..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Demonstrating inferential reasoning through behavioural choices: an experimental analysis

Is human language necessary for logical reasoning? Multiple studies address this by showing animals a bait hidden in either of two inverted cups, briefly lifting one exposing its content and then letting subjects choose. Consistent preference for the baited container is interpreted as evidence of inferential reasoning by exclusion ("if the bait is not here, it must be there"). More complex variations invoke metacognitive revision of hypotheses. We show that these protocols do not demonstrate logical reasoning. Instead, each event-stimulus elicits different actions and this suffices to choose correctly between them. We demonstrate this with experimental starlings and argue that other species may show similar behaviour, highlighting the need for careful controls when attributing high-level mental capacities such as reasoning or causal understanding.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2021

A tripartite structure, the complex nuclear receptor element (cNRE), is a cis-regulatory module of viral origin required for atrial chamber preferential gene expression

Optimal cardiac function requires appropriate contractile proteins in each heart chamber. Atria require slow myosins to act as variable reservoirs, while ventricles demand fast myosin for swift pumping functions. Hence, myosin is under chamber-biased cis-regulatory control to achieve this functional distribution. Failure in proper regulation of myosin genes can lead to severe congenital heart dysfunction. The precise regulatory input leading to cardiac chamber-biased expression remains uncharted. To address this, we computationally and molecularly dissected the quail Slow Myosin Heavy Chain III (SMyHC III) promoter that drives specific gene expression to the atria to uncover the regulatory information leading to chamber expression and understand their evolutionary origins. We show that SMyHC III gene states are autonomously orchestrated by a complex nuclear receptor cis-regulatory element (cNRE), a 32- bp sequence with hexanucleotide binding repeats. Using in vivo transgenic assays in zebrafish and mouse models, we demonstrate that preferential atrial expression is achieved by the combinatorial regulatory input composed of atrial activation motifs and ventricular repression motifs. Through comparative genomics, we provide evidence that the cNRE emerged from an endogenous viral element, most likely through infection of an ancestral host germline. Our study reveals an evolutionary pathway to cardiac chamber-specific expression.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Role of CRF receptor 1 antagonism in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis of male rats after intermittent social defeat stress

We recently demonstrated that the experience of brief episodes of social defeat caused impairments in social behaviors. Moreover, we provided evidence that the antagonism of corticotropin-releasing factor binding protein (CRFBP) in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) restored social approach in stressed animals. This study aimed to test the relation between corticotropin-releasing factor receptor type 1 (CRFR1) located in the BNST and the establishment of social stress-disrupted behaviors in rats submitted to social defeat in the resident-intruder paradigm. Animals were tested for sweet solution preference, subjected to the elevated-plus maze (EPM), and to the social interaction three-chamber test. Social behavior was tested after BNST drug infusions. The drug used in this study was a CRF receptor 1 antagonist, CP376395 (CP), administered in two doses: 50 ng/0.20 L/side, and 500 ng/0.20 L/side. Saline solution was used as vehicle and administered 0.20 L/side. Socially stressed animals (n = 11) did not differ compared to control animals (n = 11) in the EPM. Stressed animals displayed impaired social behavior, represented by a decrease in time spent in the interaction zone. The lower dose (CP 50 ng/0.20 L/side) administered intra-BNST restored social behaviors in stressed animals. On the other hand, the higher dose of the CRFR1 antagonist (CP 500 ng/0.20 L/side) induced social avoidance in rats without a history of agonistic confrontations. These findings implicate BNST CRFR1 signaling in the modulation of social behaviors in rats given the choice to explore an unfamiliar conspecific.

neuroscience↗