COCAINE ADDICTION AND NEURONAL EXCITABILITY

此SSA（K05）申请寻求申请人的工资支持，以继续和建立在长期（15年）。在动物模型中研究可卡因成瘾的神经生理学。 这一奖励将减少申请人在其学术研究的所有方面与药物滥用没有直接关系的教学和行政活动。 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主任，并正在招募一组专注于成瘾神经生物学的研究人员。 本SSA的第一个主要目标是允许申请人有必要的时间投入至少75%的精力进行和管理NIDA相关的研究活动。 第二个目标是允许申请人继续开发自己的研究计划，开发新的强大的电生理和细胞技术，包括双体细胞和树枝状细胞膜片钳记录和离子成像。 本研究的目的是：1）研究多巴胺受体对大鼠中脑前额叶皮层（PFC）中多棘神经元（MSNs）和锥体神经元（PNs）躯体电压门控通道的调节作用。 2)确定多巴胺受体对PFC PNs树突状电压门控通道的调节作用。 3)描述重复可卡因自身给药对体细胞和树突电压门控通道的影响。希望这些研究能够确定伴随并可能导致可卡因成瘾和药物寻求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.