About

Dr. Daniel Wesson is a faculty member in the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics at the College of Medicine, University of Florida. His role involves research and teaching within the department, which is part of the UF Health system. The department offers various educational programs including Ph.D. and Masters in Medical Sciences with a Pharmacology Concentration, as well as postdoctoral training and online graduate certificates. Dr. Wesson is associated with the department's research activities, which include multiple specialized labs such as the Wesson Lab, indicating his active involvement in pharmacological research. The department emphasizes research, education, and training in pharmacology and therapeutics, contributing to advancements in medical sciences and pharmacological sciences.

Research topics

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Biology
• Medicine
• Anatomy
• Pathology

Selected publications

• Medullary and C3–C4 propriospinal pathways underlying mammalian forelimb movement control

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2026-01-28

  articleOpen access

  Classic models associate goal-directed upper limb movements with cortical motor areas and balance control with the brainstem. However, recent rodent studies suggest that medullary regions and local spinal circuits also contribute to forelimb execution, leaving it uncertain if these findings apply to humans. Critically, the dynamic interactions among medullary motor regions, intersegmental spinal networks, and cortical sensorimotor areas during hand movement control remain poorly understood. Here, through functional MRI (fMRI) studies in humans and mice during forelimb movement tasks, we reveal topographically organized corticomedullary networks, comprising the lateral rostral medulla (Lat-RM) and caudal medulla (CauM), that regulate forelimb movement. In mice, the corticomedullary coupling in both CauM and Lat-RM increased systematically along a ventro-medio-dorsal gradient, with the strongest links to primary motor and premotor cortices. In humans, higher-order sensorimotor regions drove the strongest connectivity with CauM and Lat-RM, while the more medially located medial rostral medulla remained weakly engaged. Furthermore, simultaneous brain-spinal fMRI revealed distinct functional territories within the human C3-C4 cervical spinal cord, with ventral regions exhibiting strong connectivity to the medulla and dorsal regions to lower cervical segments. Together, our findings identify a conserved corticomedullary network underlying forelimb movement control across species, while also uncovering variation in cortical involvement. They indicate the presence of an indirect pathway involving both the reticulospinal pathway and the C3-C4 propriospinal system, which contributes to fine hand motor control in the mammalian brain.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• In-dwelling microfluidic device for precise and reliable intranasal drug delivery during freely-moving behavior

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2025-05-28

  preprintOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Many substances/drugs are administered intranasally (IN). These include opioid overdose reversal drugs, anti-epileptic medications, migraine medications, hormone treatments, and medicines to treat/prevent allergies, colds, and flues including nasally-administered vaccines, corticosteroids, antihistamines, and decongestants. Additionally, IN administration is the preferred route of entry by users of illicit drugs. Despite the widespread use of the IN route of administration, there is no established paradigm to access this route of administration preclinically to yield precise and reliable control over delivery. This poses major gaps in therapeutic discovery/testing, establishing pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic relationships of therapeutics, and understanding the mechanisms of actions of therapeutics. We developed an in-dwelling microfluidic device, that, when implanted upon the nasal bone, accesses the nasal cavity to allow reliable and precise IN fluid delivery during freely-moving behavior. We validated this device, called the Nasal Access Port (NAP), to confirm it allows rapid and precise control of fluids. We further exemplified the application of the NAP for studying outcomes of IN cocaine in mice, including its pharmacokinetic profile, and both the rapid release of dopamine (DA) and behavioral effects upon IN cocaine. By achieving precise and reliable access to the IN route of administration, the NAP represents a significant methodological advance with broad applicability in the biomedical and life sciences, especially in the neuroscience, pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, and physiology domains.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Dopaminergic signaling to ventral striatum neurons initiates sniffing behavior

  Nature Communications · 2025-01-02 · 13 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Sniffing is a motivated behavior displayed by nearly all terrestrial vertebrates. While sniffing is associated with acquiring and processing odors, sniffing is also intertwined with affective and motivated states. The systems which influence the display of sniffing are unclear. Here, we report that dopamine release into the ventral striatum in mice is coupled with bouts of sniffing and that stimulation of dopaminergic terminals in these regions drives increases in respiratory rate to initiate sniffing whereas inhibition of these terminals reduces respiratory rate. Both the firing of individual neurons and the activity of post-synaptic D1 and D2 dopamine receptor-expressing neurons are coupled with sniffing and local antagonism of D1 and D2 receptors squelches sniffing. Together, these results support a model whereby sniffing can be initiated by dopamine’s actions upon ventral striatum neurons. The nature of sniffing being integral to both olfaction and motivated behaviors implicates this circuit in a wide array of functions. Neural circuitry mechanism which invigorates an animal to go from basal breathing which serves the purpose of gas exchange, to engage in the voluntary act of sniffing is not fully understood. These results from Johnson and colleagues support a model whereby sniffing can be initiated by dopamine’s actions upon ventral striatum neurons.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Directing negative emotional states through parallel genetically-distinct basolateral amygdala pathways to ventral striatum subregions

  Molecular Psychiatry · 2025-06-13

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sniffing can be initiated by dopamine’s actions on ventral striatum neurons

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2024-02-22

  preprintOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Sniffing is a motivated behavior displayed by nearly all terrestrial vertebrates. While sniffing is associated with acquiring and processing odors, sniffing is also intertwined with affective and motivated states. The neuromodulatory systems which influence the display of sniffing are unclear. Here, we report that dopamine release into the ventral striatum is coupled with bouts of sniffing and that stimulation of dopaminergic terminals in these regions drives increases in respiratory rate to initiate sniffing whereas inhibition of these terminals reduces respiratory rate. Both the firing of individual neurons and the activity of post-synaptic D1 and D2 receptor-expressing neurons in the ventral striatum are also coupled with sniffing and local antagonism of D1 and D2 receptors squelches sniffing. Together, these results support a model whereby sniffing can be initiated by dopamine's actions upon ventral striatum neurons. The nature of sniffing being integral to both olfaction and motivated behaviors implicates this circuit in a wide array of functions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Bidirectional modulation of negative emotional states by parallel genetically-distinct basolateral amygdala pathways to ventral striatum subregions

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2024-06-22 · 2 citations

  preprintOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Distinct basolateral amygdala (BLA) cell populations influence emotional responses in manners thought important for anxiety and anxiety disorders. The BLA contains numerous cell types which can broadcast information into structures that may elicit changes in emotional states and behaviors. BLA excitatory neurons can be divided into two main classes, one of which expresses Ppp1r1b (encoding protein phosphatase 1 regulatory inhibitor subunit 1B) which is downstream of the genes encoding the D1 and D2 dopamine receptors ( drd1 and drd2 respectively). The role of drd1+ or drd2+ BLA neurons in learned and unlearned emotional responses is unknown. Here, we identified that the drd1 + and drd2 + BLA neuron populations form two parallel pathways for communication with the ventral striatum. These neurons arise from the basal nucleus of the BLA, innervate the entire space of the ventral striatum, and are capable of exciting ventral striatum neurons. Further, through three separate behavioral assays, we found that the drd1 + and drd2 + parallel pathways bidirectionally influence both learned and unlearned emotional states when they are activated or suppressed, and do so depending upon where they synapse in the ventral striatum – with unique contributions of drd1 + and drd2 + circuitry on negative emotional states. Overall, these results contribute to a model whereby parallel, genetically-distinct BLA to ventral striatum circuits inform emotional states in a projection-specific manner.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Neuroimmune Circuitry of Midbrain Dopamine Neurons

  Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics · 2024-05-13

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Effects of Home Cage Tunnels on Within-cage Behaviors of Mice with Cranial Implants

  Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science · 2024-01-30

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Keeping tunnels in the home cages of mice used in research appears to both reduce handling-related stress and provide environmental enrichment. However, for mice that have surgical implants that extend beyond their body, having tunnels in the home cages could engender concerns for their welfare, including the possibility of them becoming stuck in the tunnel. The goal of this study was to determine how mice with different sizes of cranial implants interacted with a tunnel in their home cage. We used male and female mice with a C57BL/6J background in this study. The mice underwent a either a craniotomy in which they received either no implant (sham), an indwelling cannula used for drug delivery, or a ferrule-type implant. The number of mouse interactions with tunnels was recorded over a 30-min period while the mouse was in its home cage with its tunnel. We found that sham mice interacted significantly more with the tunnels than did mice with either cannulae or ferrule implants. On average sham mice interacted more with the tunnel by walking through or over it whereas mice with either type of implant rarely even touched the tunnel with their heads. Our results indicate that mice with implants do not enter in the tunnels, and thus the tunnel reduces accessible cage-space rather than providing enrichment benefits. These results raise the question of whether tunnels should be routinely available for mice with cranial implants.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Midbrain dopamine neuronal activity modulates splenic immunity through a brain-to-body circuit

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2024

  • Neuroscience
  • Biology

  T-cell populations without affecting total T-cell numbers. These findings unveil a functional midbrain-DVC-celiac ganglion-spleen pathway, through which midbrain dopamine neurons modulate splenic immunity. These novel insights into the neural regulation of the immune system have important implications for diseases involving altered dopamine neurotransmission and highlight potential targets for immunotherapeutic interventions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptors in the Gustatory Cortex Influence Food Intake

  Journal of Neuroscience · 2023-05-01 · 8 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The gustatory cortex (GC) region of the insular cortex processes taste information in manners important for taste-guided behaviors, including food intake itself. In addition to oral gustatory stimuli, GC activity is also influenced by physiological states including hunger. The specific cell types and molecular mechanisms that provide the GC with such abilities are unclear. Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) is produced by neurons in the brain, where it can act on GLP-1 receptor-expressing (GLP-1R+) neurons found in several brain regions. In these brain regions, GLP-1R agonism suppresses homeostatic food intake and dampens the hedonic value of food. Here, we report in mice of both sexes that cells within the GC express Glp1r mRNA and further, by ex vivo brain slice recordings, that GC GLP-1R+ neurons are depolarized by the selective GLP-1R agonist, exendin-4. Next we found that chemogenetic stimulation of GLP-1R+ neurons, and also pharmacological stimulation of GC-GLP-1Rs themselves, both reduced homeostatic food intake. When mice were chronically maintained on diets with specific fat contents and then later offered foods with new fat contents, we also found that GLP-1R agonism reduced food intake toward foods with differing fat contents, indicating that GC GLP-1R influences may depend on palatability of the food. Together, these results provide evidence for a specific cell population in the GC that may hold roles in both homeostatic and hedonic food intake. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The present study demonstrates that a population of neurons in the GC region of the insular cortex expresses receptors for GLP-1Rs, these neurons are depolarized by agonism of GLP-1Rs, and GC GLP-1Rs can influence food intake on their activation, including in manners depending on food palatability. This work is significant by adding to our understanding of the brain systems that mediate ingestive behavior, which holds implications for metabolic diseases.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Circuitry and function of ventral striatum subregions

  NIH · $2.1M · 2020–2026

• Odor Processing in the Olfactory Tubercle

  NSF · $462k · 2011–2014

• Novel Role of a Ventral Striatal Circuit in Motor Control

  NIH · $2.4M · 2021–2027

• Linking Synucleinopathy and Dysfunction of Olfactory Pathways

  NIH · $2.2M · 2017–2022

• INTER-REGIONAL CODING OF ODOR VALENCE BY NEURAL ENSEMBLES

  NIH · $2.3M · 2015–2021

Frequent coauthors

• Donald A. Wilson

  Fiji National University

  61 shared

• Natalie L. Johnson

  Florida College

  40 shared

• Minghong Ma

  University of Pennsylvania

  36 shared

• Kaitlin S. Carlson

  Taste and Smell Clinic

  33 shared

• Ralph A. Nixon

  New York University

  28 shared

• Efrat Levy

  Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research

  28 shared

• Paul M. Mathews

  26 shared

• Lucas A. Stetzik

  Taste and Smell Clinic

  26 shared