This past summer, scores of Hamilton College students pushed their mental boundaries by shelving their role as students and becoming student researchers. Dan Chandler '08 (Orange, Conn.) was one of these intrepid students, but what makes his story particularly interesting is that rather than carrying out his research in the friendly confines of the Hamilton College Science Center, Chandler chose yet another challenge and conducted research at Yale University. Chandler, a neuroscience major, says he was immediately interested in studying the effects of repeated low blood sugar on the behavior of rats.
Repeated low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, is, Chandler explains, "a side effect of insulin-intensive treatment of diabetes." The American Diabetes Association estimates 20.8 million American adults and children, about seven percent of the population, have some form of diabetes, part of the reason Chandler says he found the research important as well as interesting. Still, he points out that, "hypoglycemia is an effect of treating diabetes, not an effect of diabetes." There are two major types of diabetes. In both types, the end effect is that the body ends up with too much blood sugar in its bloodstream. Insulin lowers blood sugar, but Chandler points out that it's very easy to slightly overdose on a regular basis, leading to repeated hypoglycemia.
Chandler worked with Professor of Neuroscience Ewan McNay of Yale University. The team was interested in changes in behavior that might be brought out in rats by repeated hypoglycemia. Chandler gave groups of rats insulin injections for three days, and on the fourth day he would test their anxiety levels on an apparatus known as an elevated plus maze, which Chandler describes as, "a maze in the shape of an 'X' where there are two arms with walls and two without walls." Chandler and the team would place each rat in the middle of the maze and record how much time the rat spent on each of the four arms. Rats exhibiting higher levels of anxiety would spend more time on the arms with walls, whereas animals with less anxiety would be less worried about predators and other dangers of being out in the open and would spend more time on the arms without walls. Chandler points out that anxiety – or a lack of anxiety – plays a major role in human risk behaviors such as drinking and smoking as well.
After the rats had been tested, Chandler and the team would perform a histology on the rats. When asked what that meant, Chandler replies, "We'd take out the brains, make slices, and stain the slices with a C-FOS stain." The team looked for concentrations of different compounds in the brain indicating increased or decreased brain activity, especially in the amygdale, the portion of the brain most associated with the exhibition of fear and anxiety. Chandler says he had learned many of the techniques he used at Yale during his years at Hamilton. "In Professor [of Neuroscience Doug] Weldon's Neuroplasticity [Neuroscience 330] course, we used a lot of the same staining methods as in the lab over the summer," says Chandler, who says he enjoyed that the research was close enough to his home that he could live at home and commute daily.
Chandler plans on attending graduate school and earning a Ph.D. in neurology. His eventual goal is to teach at a college in his own turn, saying he likes the idea of having an opportunity to do research while teaching students at the same time. As a senior at Hamilton, much of Chandler's free time is taken up by his senior thesis. Chandler is using many of the same staining techniques, and the same behavioral maze test, for his thesis that he used during his time at Yale, although his focus is slightly different. Chandler will be researching "the effects of neo-natal stress on cal-retinin and rat behavior." Once again, Chandler will be hoping to draw parallels between behaviors in rats and potential human behaviors, and he says his experience at Yale couldn't have been more valuable in his new work here at Hamilton.
-- by Elijah LaChance '10
Repeated low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, is, Chandler explains, "a side effect of insulin-intensive treatment of diabetes." The American Diabetes Association estimates 20.8 million American adults and children, about seven percent of the population, have some form of diabetes, part of the reason Chandler says he found the research important as well as interesting. Still, he points out that, "hypoglycemia is an effect of treating diabetes, not an effect of diabetes." There are two major types of diabetes. In both types, the end effect is that the body ends up with too much blood sugar in its bloodstream. Insulin lowers blood sugar, but Chandler points out that it's very easy to slightly overdose on a regular basis, leading to repeated hypoglycemia.
Chandler worked with Professor of Neuroscience Ewan McNay of Yale University. The team was interested in changes in behavior that might be brought out in rats by repeated hypoglycemia. Chandler gave groups of rats insulin injections for three days, and on the fourth day he would test their anxiety levels on an apparatus known as an elevated plus maze, which Chandler describes as, "a maze in the shape of an 'X' where there are two arms with walls and two without walls." Chandler and the team would place each rat in the middle of the maze and record how much time the rat spent on each of the four arms. Rats exhibiting higher levels of anxiety would spend more time on the arms with walls, whereas animals with less anxiety would be less worried about predators and other dangers of being out in the open and would spend more time on the arms without walls. Chandler points out that anxiety – or a lack of anxiety – plays a major role in human risk behaviors such as drinking and smoking as well.
After the rats had been tested, Chandler and the team would perform a histology on the rats. When asked what that meant, Chandler replies, "We'd take out the brains, make slices, and stain the slices with a C-FOS stain." The team looked for concentrations of different compounds in the brain indicating increased or decreased brain activity, especially in the amygdale, the portion of the brain most associated with the exhibition of fear and anxiety. Chandler says he had learned many of the techniques he used at Yale during his years at Hamilton. "In Professor [of Neuroscience Doug] Weldon's Neuroplasticity [Neuroscience 330] course, we used a lot of the same staining methods as in the lab over the summer," says Chandler, who says he enjoyed that the research was close enough to his home that he could live at home and commute daily.
Chandler plans on attending graduate school and earning a Ph.D. in neurology. His eventual goal is to teach at a college in his own turn, saying he likes the idea of having an opportunity to do research while teaching students at the same time. As a senior at Hamilton, much of Chandler's free time is taken up by his senior thesis. Chandler is using many of the same staining techniques, and the same behavioral maze test, for his thesis that he used during his time at Yale, although his focus is slightly different. Chandler will be researching "the effects of neo-natal stress on cal-retinin and rat behavior." Once again, Chandler will be hoping to draw parallels between behaviors in rats and potential human behaviors, and he says his experience at Yale couldn't have been more valuable in his new work here at Hamilton.
-- by Elijah LaChance '10
