Investigations into the molecular targets of drugs of abuse and their associated intracellular signaling pathwayshave yielded a wealth of information regarding the cellular perturbations associated with these drugs. Thecombined studies will extend upon this existing knowledge with rigorous cell biological,molecular, biochemical, behavioral, and electrophysiological studies of neuronal cells upon drug treatment. Thesestudies have the potential to provide greater insights into the causes of drug dependence as well as to elucidatepossible novel targets for pharmacological intervention.The Scientific Core will be a center devoted to facilitating those experiments proposed in the Projectsthat require the use of genetically modified animals, yeast two-hybrid screens, and various key biological reagents.The experiments outlined in these Projects require the creation and maintenance of large numbers of geneticallymodified animals. The creation and characterization of necessary transgenic mice, and the maintenance ofthese and all other genetically modified mice is Specific Aim I of the Core. To help identify and characterizenovel protein-protein interactions relevant to signaling molecules targeted by drug of abuse, the Core will designand execute yeast two-hybrid screens in Specific Aim II. In addition, the Scientific Core will be a key source ofvarious reagents needed for the experiments. Key proteins, enzymes, and antibodieswill be produced in Specific Aim III, while new polyclonal antibodies, including phosphorylation statespecificantibodies, will be produced in Specific Aim IV.
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