John D. Boughter, Jr., Ph.D.

John D. Boughter, Jr., Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
The University of Tennessee
Health Science Center


The University of Tennessee Health Science Center
855 Monroe Avenue, Suite 515
Memphis, TN 38163
Phone: (901) 448-1633
Fax: (901) 448-7193
Email: John D. Boughter, Jr.



Education

  • Undergraduate Institution: Binghamton University
  • Ph.D. Institution: Florida State University, Psychology Department, Neuroscience Program
  • Postdoctoral: University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology

Research Interests

Ingestive decisions play a key role in a number of human conditions including obesity, diabetes, anorexia, hypertension, and coronary artery disease. My lab uses neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, and behavioral genetic approaches towards the study of ingestive behaviors in laboratory mice.

Central pathways for taste and reward

The sense of taste is the most important factor in regulating ingestive decisions. This is not merely due to the location of taste buds and receptors at the beginning of the alimentary canal; it has long been appreciated that palatable tastes are inherently rewarding, and taste stimuli such as sucrose activate pathways in the CNS involved in homeostasis, ingestion and reward. We are studying these pathways in the mouse brain using functional neuroanatomical approaches including tract tracing and behavior-elicited immediate early gene expression. We use both wild type and Trpm5 knockout mice in this research. These knockout mice possess a greatly reduced sensitivity to sweet, bitter, and amino acid taste. We are also conducting in vivo recordings from single taste neurons in the parabrachial nucleus in mice, in order to understand how taste information is "coded" in the mammalian brainstem.

illustration
Schematic of ascending and descending gustatory pathways in the mouse.

Fluid licking in mice

This consummatory behavior is thought to be under the control of one or more central pattern generators (CPGs); that is, an ensemble of neurons in the CNS that generate the rhythmic output which in turn drives certain groups of muscles to act in a stereotyped, coordinated fashion. Two inbred strains of mice, C57BL/2J (B6) and DBA/2J (D2), differ in their licking behavior - D2 mice lick at a faster rate. This is likely due to a difference in the properties of the CPG. We have capitalized on this genetic variation to map several gene candidates that may underlie the CPG for licking.

chart
The above figure shows the results of a genome scan for lick rate using BXD recombinant inbred mice. We have identified intervals (peaks of the blue trace) on chromosomes 1 and 10 that likely contain genes that influence this trait.

Representative Publications

  • Lu L, Cao Y, Tokita K, Heck DH, Boughter JD Jr. Medial cerebellar nuclear projections and activity patterns link cerebellar output to orofacial and respiratory behavior. Front Neural Circuits. 2013;7:56. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2013.00056. Epub 2013 Apr 2. PubMed PMID: 23565078; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3613706.
  • Sabri F, Boughter JD Jr, Gerth D, Skalli O, Phung TC, Tamula GR, Leventis N. Histological evaluation of the biocompatibility of polyurea crosslinked silica aerogel implants in a rat model: a pilot study. PLoS One. 2012;7(12):e50686. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050686. Epub 2012 Dec 12. PubMed PMID: 23251378; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3520989.
  • Wilson DM, Boughter JD Jr, Lemon CH. Bitter taste stimuli induce differential neural codes in mouse brain. PLoS One. 2012;7(7):e41597. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0041597. Epub 2012 Jul 23. PubMed PMID: 22844505; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3402413.
  • Tokita K, Boughter JD Jr. Sweet-bitter and umami-bitter taste interactions in single parabrachial neurons in C57BL/6J mice. J Neurophysiol. 2012 Oct;108(8):2179-90. doi: 10.1152/jn.00465.2012. Epub 2012 Jul 25. PubMed PMID: 22832571; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3545017.
  • Boughter JD Jr, Mulligan MK, St John SJ, Tokita K, Lu L, Heck DH, Williams RW. Genetic control of a central pattern generator: rhythmic oromotor movement in mice is controlled by a major locus near Atp1a2. PLoS One. 2012;7(5):e38169. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0038169. Epub 2012 May 31. PubMed PMID: 22675444; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3364982.
  • Meacham RK, Boughter JD Jr, Sebelik ME. Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of the tongue base: a cadaver feasibility study. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2012 Nov;147(5):864-9. doi: 10.1177/0194599812446677. Epub 2012 May 2. PubMed PMID: 22555895.

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