In the most general terms, the primary objective of the research program conducted within the Neuropsychopharmacology Laboratory is to understand the neurobiology of midbrain dopamine neurons as well as their target neurons within the forebrain. The theme is to understand how these neurons, and the systems in which they operate, are involved in the mechanisms of action of drugs of abuse and psychotherapeutic drugs. The Neuropsychopharmacology Laboratory uses a combination of behavioral, neurochemical and primarily neurophysiological techniques to address the neurobiology of dopamine systems. By combining behavioral studies with extracellular single cell recordings conducted in vivo, intracellular recordings from neurons in brain slice preparations and whole-cell patch clamp recordings from freshly dissociated neurons, we have the ability to answer questions of behavioral relevance at a number of levels, from molecular to systems.
Dopamine receptors get a boost.
The vicious cyclin of addiction. Is Associated with Elevated Impulse Activity of Midbrain Dopamine Neurons. Pharmacological reversal of behavioral and cellular indices of cocaine sensitization in the rat. Altered responsiveness of medial prefrontal cortex neurons to glutamate and dopamine after withdrawal from repeated amphetamine treatment. Synapse 36, 342-4.