Bethany Plakke

Contact Information

Office: BH 413

Lab website: https://orgcentral.k-state.edu/plakkelab/home/

Research Interests

Our lab's research is utilizing multiple rodent models of autism to examine the neurobiology of the disorder. In addition to examining social interactions, and repetitive behavior, the lab will be examining changes in cognitive flexibility and multisensory processing. We are using the VPA (valproic acid) model of autism because it has both construct and face validity and provides a way to examine behavioral changes developmentally. The second model is a model of Fragile X syndrome, which is the number one cause of intellectual disability. Fragile X rats are created by modifying the Fmr1 gene (Fmr1 knock out) which results in the loss of FMR protein. Projects include looking at differences between control and VPA treated rats in cognitive attention tasks, and the associated neurobiological changes found in grey matter volumes of across the brain after exercise interventions. Additionally, we are using electrophysiology to record from the medial prefrontal cortex during cognitive performance in the Fmr1 knock out rat. We are interested in understanding change across the life-span and have projects that examine adolescent development as well as aged animals.

Student Involvement

The lab is actively recruiting students! Interested undergraduate or graduate students should email Dr. Plakke. Students will have the opportunity to design experiments as well as participate in collecting and analyzing data. A variety of techniques including behavioral handling and training of animals, histology, ELISA assays, and immunohistochemistry can be learned by students. Students can develop a project and present the work at regional or national conferences and can gain valuable experience sharing their research.

Representative Publications

C. King, B. Plakke, Maternal choline supplementation modulates cognition and inducesanti-inflammatory signaling in the prefrontal cortices of adolescent rats exposed to maternal immune activation., Brain, Behav. Immun. - Heal. 40 (2024) 100836. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2024.100836.

C. King, B. Plakke, Maternal choline supplementation in neurodevelopmental disorders: mechanistic insights from animal models and future directions., Nutr. Neurosci. (2024) 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415X.2024.2377084.

C. King, L.G. Rogers, J. Jansen, B. Sivayokan, J. Neyhard, E. Warnes, S.E. Hall, B. Plakke, Adolescent treadmill exercise enhances hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression and improves cognition in autism-modeled rats., Physiol. Behav. 284 (2024) 114638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2024.114638.

C. King, T. Maze, B. Plakke, Altered prefrontal and cerebellar parvalbumin neuron counts are associated with cognitive changes in male rats., Exp. Brain Res. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-024-06902-y.

B. Sivayokan, C. King, I. Mali, M. Payne, H. Strating, E. Warnes, S.H. Bossmann, B. Plakke, Aerobic exercise improves cognitive flexibility and modulates regional volume changes in a rat model of autism., Behav. Brain Res. 471 (2024) 115136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2024.115136.

C. King, I. Mali, H. Strating, E. Fangman, J. Neyhard, M. Payne, S.H. Bossmann, B. Plakke, Region-Specific Brain Volume Changes Emerge in Adolescence in the Valproic Acid Model of Autism and Parallel Human Findings., Dev. Neurosci. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1159/000538932.

I. Mali, M. Payne, C. King, T.R. Maze, T. Davison, B. Challans, S.H. Bossmann, B. Plakke, Adolescent female valproic acid rats have impaired extra-dimensional shifts of attention and enlarged anterior cingulate cortices., Brain Res. 1800 (2023) 148199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2022.148199.

Payne, M., Mali, I., Shrestha, T., McKinnell, Z. E., Bossman,S., Plakke, B. (2021). Increased volumes of lobule VI in a valproic acid model of autism are associated with worse set-shifting performance in male Long-Evan rats. Brain Research,1765, 147495.

McKinnell, Z.E. , Maze, T., Challans, B., Ramos, A., Plakke, B. (2021). Valproic acid treated Long-Evans rats are impaired on attentional set-shifting. Behavioural Brain Research, 397, 112966.

Plakke, B., Romanski, L.M. (2016). Neural circuits in auditory and audiovisual memory. Brain Research. 1640 (Pt B), 278-288.

Plakke, B., Hwang, J., Romanski, L.M. (2015). Inactivation of primate prefrontal cortex impairs auditory and audiovisual working memory. The Journal of Neuroscience, 35(26): 9666-9675.