Biological Bases of Alcoholism

描述(由申请者提供)：这个博士和博士后培训项目将培养能够在从分子到行为的各个层面进行临床前研究的专家，重点研究酒精最初敏感的生物学机制，以及酒精中毒的发展、维持和消除。这些受训人员也将完全有能力在这些领域任教。OHSU研究生院的24名成员将培训博士后研究员和进入行为神经科学或神经科学专业的研究生。培训将包括在基础科学方面打下坚实的课程基础，酒精和其他滥用药物的药理学方面的专门培训，接触人类酒精中毒的临床和心理社会方面，科学实践和伦理，以及广泛和持续地参与基础研究。我们培训机会的重点是与问题饮酒和酒精中毒的病因学有关的生物过程。我们的一般方法是跨学科的，强调遗传、分子、生理、药理学和心理/行为过程。这些研究问题大致分为五个方面：(1)酒精反应的遗传基础，(2)酒精奖励的已知和未知决定因素，(3)酒精奖励和厌恶效应的神经生物学基础，(4)与酒精依赖、耐受和敏化相关的神经适应机制，以及(5)酒精对记忆和认知的影响。关于酒精影响的信息与关于其他滥用药物的类似信息进行对比，以确定共同的生物学机制。一般领域反映参与的教员使用行为、系统水平和细胞/分子方法的研究兴趣和专业知识。他们共同的生物行为观点与越来越多的证据相一致，这些证据表明，从遗传因素和环境因素之间的相互作用来看，人们对许多形式的人类酒精中毒的理解最好。在酒精和其他药物效应的研究方面，教员合作的领域包括：遗传决定因素的研究；神经内分泌和神经活性类固醇参与的研究；多巴胺、GABA能和谷氨酸能系统的研究；奖赏和厌恶效应的研究；敏感化、耐受性和依赖/戒断现象的研究；冲动等相关特征的研究；以及侧重于神经解剖途径的研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Ph.D. and postdoctoral training program will create specialists who will be able to conduct preclinical research at all levels, from molecular to behavioral, focused on the biological mechanisms underlying initial sensitivity to alcohol, as well as the development, maintenance, and elimination of alcoholism. These trainees will also be thoroughly competent to teach in these areas. Twenty-four members of the OHSU graduate faculty will train postdoctoral research fellows and graduate students entering programs in Behavioral Neuroscience or Neuroscience. Training will include firm curricular grounding in the basic sciences, specific training in pharmacology of alcohol and other abused drugs, exposure to clinical and psychosocial aspects of human alcoholism, the practice and ethics of science, and extensive and continuous participation in basic research. The focus of our training opportunities is on biological processes involved in the etiology of problem drinking and alcoholism. Our general approach is interdisciplinary, emphasizing genetic, molecular, physiological, pharmacological, and psychological/behavioral processes. The research questions fall into five general areas: (1) genetic bases for alcohol responses, (2) learned and unlearned determinants of alcohol reward, (3) neurobiological bases for the rewarding and aversive effects of alcohol, (4) neuroadaptive mechanisms associated with ethanol dependence, tolerance, and sensitization, and (5) effects of alcohol on memory and cognition. Information about alcohol effects is contrasted with similar information about other drugs of abuse to identify common biological mechanisms. The general areas reflect the research interests and expertise of a participating faculty using behavioral, systems-level, and cellular/molecular methods. Their shared biobehavioral perspective is consistent with growing evidence indicating that many forms of human alcoholism are best understood in terms of an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Areas of faculty collaboration in studies of alcohol and other drug effects include: studies of genetic determinants; neuroendocrine and neuroactive steroid participation; studies of dopaminergic, GABAergic and glutamatergic systems; studies of rewarding and aversive effects; studies of sensitization, tolerance, and dependence/withdrawal phenomena; studies of correlated traits such as impulsivity; and studies focused on neuroanatomical pathways.