Daniel Philipp Holschneider, MD

Professor of Psychiatry & the Behavioral Sciences

Assistant Director of Consult/Liaison Psychiatry for LAC+USC

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Overview

My laboratory’s primary interest over the past 15 years has been the brain imaging of rodent behaviors as they occur in the nontethered, nonrestrained animal. A primary tool has been perfusion based mapping using the classic autoradiographic methods. Unique about our methods is that they allow us to evaluate changes in functional brain activation at the circuit level across the entire brain. Perfusion or metabolic mapping, as we have proposed, fills a gap in the current armamentarium of imaging tools in that it can deliver a 3D assessment of functional activation of the awake, nonrestrained animal, with a spatial resolution of 100 microns.
We have made significant contributions to the methodology in several areas (a) adapting statistical parametric mapping and connectivity analyses to three-dimensional autoradiographic data sets of the rat and mouse brain, (b) developing methods to allow the generation of cortical flat maps in rats and, (c) developing an implantable minipump that allows radiotracer bolus administration by remote activation in the freely moving animal. An ongoing focus is the application of functional connectivity analyses [correlation matrices of regional changes in CBF, graph theoretical analysis of network �hubs� (Pajek software), effective connectivity analyses using structural equation modeling].
The lab has broad experience evaluating behavioral function in rat and mouse models of pain, brain injury, and fear, as well as exercise. Extensive experience is available for vascular surgical procedures in rats, mice and rabbits, as well as expertise in physiologic monitoring (locomotor activity, telemetric monitoring of EMG, EEG, ECG, cardiac output).

The expertise of the laboratory include functional brain mapping, animal behavior, physiologic monitoring (EEG, EMG, EKG) and basic histochemistry.

Research Funding

  • Positive allosteric modulation of cholinergic receptors in recovery after brain trauma
    NIH · R21NS096554 · Jun 1, 2016 – May 31, 2018 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • Functional Adaptation of Neural Circuits After Exercise and Basal Ganglia Injury
    NIH · R01HD060630 · Jul 15, 2010 – May 31, 2016 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • Monitoring of Cardiovascular Function in Infants By Transcutaneous Dye Dilution
    NIH · R01HL103765 · Jul 1, 2010 – Jun 30, 2016 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • Implantable Minipump For Tetherless Drug Self-Administration In Mice
    NIH · R21DA026970 · Aug 15, 2009 – Jul 31, 2011 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • Microinfusion Pump For Animal Functional Brain Mapping
    NIH · R01NS050171 · Jul 1, 2005 – Jun 30, 2009 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • PET Behavioral Brain Mapping In Freely Moving Animals
    NIH · R21MH073000 · Feb 1, 2005 – Jan 31, 2009 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • AN IMPLANTABLE BOLUS INFUSION PUMP FOR THE NEUROSCIENCES
    NIH · R01EB000300 · Aug 1, 2000 – Jan 31, 2005 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • AN IMPLANTABLE BOLUS INFUSION PUMP FOR THE NEUROSCIENCES
    NIH · R01MH062148 · Aug 1, 2000 – Jul 31, 2003 · Role: Principal Investigator

Publications

  • Functional remapping in networks of the Parkinsonian brain: A preclinical neuroimaging perspective with clinical correlates. Transl Neurosci. 2025 Jan 01; 16(1):20250374.. View in PubMed
  • Increased perivascular space volume in white matter and basal ganglia is associated with cognition in Parkinson’s Disease. Brain Imaging Behav. 2024 Feb; 18(1):57-65.. View in PubMed
  • Exercise alters cortico-basal ganglia network metabolic connectivity: a mesoscopic level analysis informed by anatomic parcellation defined in the mouse brain connectome. Brain Struct Funct. 2023 Nov; 228(8):1865-1884.. View in PubMed
  • Physical activity intensity is associated with cognition and functional connectivity in Parkinson’s disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2022 11; 104:7-14.. View in PubMed
  • A mind in motion: Exercise improves cognitive flexibility, impulsivity and alters dopamine receptor gene expression in a Parkinsonian rat model. Curr Res Neurobiol. 2022; 3:100039.. View in PubMed
  • A gut-derived metabolite alters brain activity and anxiety behaviour in mice. Nature. 2022 02; 602(7898):647-653.. View in PubMed
  • The Effects of Cardiorespiratory and Motor Skill Fitness on Intrinsic Functional Connectivity of Neural Networks in Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease. Brain Plast. 2021; 7(2):77-95.. View in PubMed
  • Thalamic volume mediates associations between cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max) and cognition in Parkinson’s disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2021 05; 86:19-26.. View in PubMed
  • Cognitive flexibility deficits in rats with dorsomedial striatal 6-hydroxydopamine lesions tested using a three-choice serial reaction time task with reversal learning. Neuroreport. 2020 10 14; 31(15):1055-1064.. View in PubMed
  • Modulation of Hippocampal GABAergic Neurotransmission and Gephyrin Levels by Dihydromyricetin Improves Anxiety. Front Pharmacol. 2020; 11:1008.. View in PubMed