This is an application for a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) to support the career development of Dr. Heather Trantham-Davidson as an independent academic investigator in alcohol research. The candidate is an early-stage investigator with previous training in the area of prefrontal cortical function and is relatively new to the alcohol field. A comprehensive mentoring and research plan is presented that will provide training in the neurobiology of adolescent alcohol abuse and its long-term effects on brain and behavior. The career and research training the applicant will receive will be overseen by a strong mentoring team and supported by strong institutional commitment to the candidate's career development. The research proposed is an extension of the applicant's recent studies in the mentor's laboratory examining the effects of adolescent alcohol exposure on the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of adult rats. The proposed research plan will take full advantage of the mentoring team and environment to allow the candidate to develop a research program that is at the forefront of the adolescent alcohol field. The PFC is a brain region that is critically involved in cognitive function and inhibitory control, and adolescence represents a critical period of continued PFC development that parallels the maturation of these functions. Alcohol drinking typically begins during adolescence when consumption of large quantities, in binge-like episodic patterns, is common. Alterations in PFC function are associated with increased likelihood to engage in risky behaviors and poor decision-making. Epidemiological evidence suggests that adolescent alcohol exposure may result in life-long deficits in cognitive control of behavior that may stem from disruption of the normal developmental trajectory of the PFC. However, the specific cellular targets in the adult PFC that are disrupted by adolescent alcohol abuse remain unclear and will be elucidated by the experiments outlined in this proposal. The overarching hypothesis is that adolescent alcohol exposure produces a neuropathology of the PFC that manifests in the adult as deficits in dopamine modulation of deep-layer pyramidal neurons of the prelimbic subregion and its projections to subcortical nuclei. This hypothesis will be tested using a multidisciplinary approach that includes patch-clamp slice electrophysiology and behavioral studies involving operant tasks to assess risky decision-making. These studies will determine the cellular mechanisms of persistent cognitive dysfunction following adolescent alcohol exposure, yield novel and exciting new findings, and significantly advance our understanding of the cellular mechanisms mediating the effect of adolescent alcohol exposure on cognitive function in the adult. Together, this training and research plan will provide a solid foundation upon which the applicant can build an independent research program.

Public Health Relevance

Adolescent alcohol use and abuse is a serious public health problem that may cause long-lasting changes in cognitive control of behavior. These cognitive alterations, in turn, may explain impairments in decision- making that persist into adulthood in individuals who consumed alcohol as adolescents. The experiments outlined in this mentored K01 application will investigate whether the effects of repeated insults of binge alcohol exposure on the normal developmental trajectory of the PFC impairs adolescent development and leads to increased risk-taking behavior that persists into adulthood.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Type
Research Scientist Development Award - Research & Training (K01)
Project #
5K01AA022475-03
Application #
9042909
Study Section
Neuroscience Review Subcommittee (AA)
Program Officer
Regunathan, Soundar
Project Start
2014-07-10
Project End
2019-03-31
Budget Start
2016-04-01
Budget End
2017-03-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2016
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Medical University of South Carolina
Department
Neurosciences
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
183710748
City
Charleston
State
SC
Country
United States
Zip Code
29403
Centanni, Samuel W; Burnett, Elizabeth J; Trantham-Davidson, Heather et al. (2017) Loss of ?-GABAA receptor-mediated tonic currents in the adult prelimbic cortex following adolescent alcohol exposure. Addict Biol 22:616-628
Rinker, Jennifer A; Fulmer, Diana B; Trantham-Davidson, Heather et al. (2017) Differential potassium channel gene regulation in BXD mice reveals novel targets for pharmacogenetic therapies to reduce heavy alcohol drinking. Alcohol 58:33-45
Trantham-Davidson, Heather; Centanni, Samuel W; Garr, S Corrin et al. (2017) Binge-Like Alcohol Exposure During Adolescence Disrupts Dopaminergic Neurotransmission in the Adult Prelimbic Cortex. Neuropsychopharmacology 42:1024-1036
Burnett, Elizabeth J; Chandler, L Judson; Trantham-Davidson, Heather (2016) Glutamatergic plasticity and alcohol dependence-induced alterations in reward, affect and cognition. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 65:309-20
Cui, Changhai; Noronha, Antonio; Warren, Kenneth R et al. (2015) Brain pathways to recovery from alcohol dependence. Alcohol 49:435-52
Trantham-Davidson, Heather; Chandler, L Judson (2015) Alcohol-induced alterations in dopamine modulation of prefrontal activity. Alcohol 49:773-9
Gass, Justin T; Glen Jr, William Bailey; McGonigal, Justin T et al. (2014) Adolescent alcohol exposure reduces behavioral flexibility, promotes disinhibition, and increases resistance to extinction of ethanol self-administration in adulthood. Neuropsychopharmacology 39:2570-83
Gass, Justin T; Trantham-Davidson, Heather; Kassab, Amanda S et al. (2014) Enhancement of extinction learning attenuates ethanol-seeking behavior and alters plasticity in the prefrontal cortex. J Neurosci 34:7562-74