The loss of control in amounts of drug consumed is a common trait experienced by persons living with drug addiction. The motivation of this dissertation is to further our understanding in the neural mechanisms that mediate consumption of drugs of abuse, to reveal targets for pha…
"15" Result
Sort By:
A wide range of hormonal, developmental and growth factors regulate cellular growth and proliferation events through receptors that couple to heterotrimeric G proteins. Upon activation of the receptor by its ligand the G protein is activated and subsequent dissociation of α subu…
Repeated exposure to addictive drugs produces neurochemical and structural adaptations in mesolimbic dopamine neurons. It is known that natural motivated behaviors (e.g. feeding, mating) also activate the mesolimbic dopamine pathway. Before the mechanisms underlying drug addicti…
Dopamine (DA) acts centrally through the vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) system to stimulate turkey prolactin (PRL) secretion. DA also modulates LH/FSH secretion through gonadotropin-releasing hormone I (GnRH-I) neurons. The distribution of DAergic, VIPergic, and GnRHergic-i…
Cognitive dysfunction is a core characteristic of schizophrenia, which can often persist when other symptoms, particularly positive symptoms, may be improved with drug treatment. The non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist, phencyclidine (PCP), is a psychomotor stimulant drug t…
Brain slice experiments are a robust and controlled platform for the study of neurotransmitter dynamics using electrochemistry. The isolation and study of brain slices from genetically altered animals is critical for the understanding of neurotransmitter dynamics. The dynamics o…
Humans and animals learn to avoid pain and to seek pleasure. In fact, actions that are essential to the survival of the organism such as mating, eating, and drinking, are invariably pleasurable. The subjective experience of pleasure is typically perceived when engaging the senso…
The adolescent transition from childhood to adulthood requires a qualitative shift in the focus on social interactions and reward. The male Syrian hamster provides a unique model for understanding how social information processing matures throughout adolescence, as juvenile male…
The prevalence of alcohol use disorder (AUD), a chronic, heterogeneous disease characterized by an escalation from casual alcohol consumption to compulsive alcohol seeking and consumption accompanied by a persistent or recurring negative affective state, is a health crisis occur…
What makes us move? Human movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease have long suggested a vital role for dopamine in movement initiation, but there exists surprisingly little evidence connecting endogenous dopaminergic activity to a causal role in this process. Although “stand…
Dopamine (DA) receptors, members of the G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) family, are divided in two groups based on their transmembrane structural homology domains: D1R-like (D1R, D5R sub-types) and D2R-like DA receptors (D2R, D3R and D4R sub-types). Disturbances in dopaminer…
According to the Procedural Deficit Hypothesis, abnormalities in corticostriatal pathways could account for the language-related deficits observed in developmental dyslexia. The same neural network has also been implicated in the ability to learn reinforcement contingencies base…
The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been shown to activate when situations are in conflict, when determining the relevance of stimuli, and error processing. Dopaminergic projections to the ACC are hypothesized to facilitate the integration of incoming stimuli with error sign…
The primary cilium is an important sensory organelle present in most mammalian cells. The cilium is involved in regulating various essential cellular processes and by virtue of its structure and location; the most important function of the primary cilium is to act as a sensor. T…