COCAINE ADDICTION AND NEURONAL EXCITABILITY

此SSA(K05)申请寻求薪资支持，以使申请者继续并在长期(15年)的基础上继续发展可卡因成瘾动物模型神经生理学研究计划。这一裁决将减少申请人在与药物滥用没有直接关系的所有学术追求方面的教学和行政活动。这位候选人最近担任了芝加哥医学院细胞和分子药理学系的主任，目前正在招聘一组专注于成瘾神经生物学的研究人员。这项SSA的第一个主要目标是让申请者有必要的时间将至少75%的精力投入到与NIDA相关的研究活动中。第二个目标是允许申请者继续发展他自己的研究计划，发展成新的和强大的电生理和细胞技术，包括双体和树突膜片钳记录和离子成像。科学地讲，本项目的目的是：1)研究伏隔核中棘神经元(MSN)和啮齿动物(大鼠和小鼠)前额叶皮质(PFC)锥体神经元(PNS)中的多巴胺受体对体细胞电压门控通道的调节作用。2)研究PFC PNS树突状电压门控通道对多巴胺受体的调节作用。3)研究重复给药对体细胞和树突电压门控通道的影响。希望这些研究将确定伴随并可能导致可卡因成瘾和寻求毒品行为的特定神经适应。

This SSA (K05) application seeks salary support for the applicant to continue and build upon a long-standing (15 yr.) program of research into the neurophysiology of cocaine addiction in animal models. This award would reduce the applicant's teaching and administrative activities in all aspects of his academic pursuits that are not directly related to drug abuse. The candidate has recently taken the Chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at Chicago Medical School and is in the process of recruiting a group of researchers focused on the neurobiology of addiction. The first major goal of this SSA is to allow the applicant the necessary time to devote at least 75 percent effort to conducting and administering NIDA-related research activities. The second goal is to allow the applicant to continue the development of his own research program into new and powerful electrophysiological and cellular techniques including dual somatic and dendritic patch clamp recordings and ion imaging. Scientifically, the aims of this project are: 1) To characterize dopamine receptor modulation of somatic voltage-gated channels in both medium spiny neurons (MSNs) of the nucleus accumbens and pyramidal neurons (PNs) of the rodent (rat and mouse) prefrontal cortex (PFC). 2) To determine dopamine receptor modulation of dendritic voltage-gated channels in PFC PNs. 3) To characterize the effects of repeated cocaine self-administration on somatic and dendritic voltage-gated channels. Hopefully, these studies will identify specific neuroadaptations that accompany and perhaps cause cocaine addiction and drug-seeking behavior.