The specific aims of this project are to expand the understanding of how chronic ethanol exposure affects the release of hormones and ion channel electrophysiology in the intact neurohypophysis and isolated neurohypophysial terminals. Ethanol has been known to cause diuresis and acute applications to isolated neurohypophysial terminals have been shown to inhibit Ca+2 current, potentiate CAK current, and suppress vasopressin release. This, coupled with the experimental accessibility of the neurohypophysis, makes it an ideal system to test for chronic ethanol effects. The problem will be studied using a combined biochemical and electrophysiological strategy. Chronic ethanol-induced changes in cellular electrical activity will be studied using whole cell perforated patch clamp techniques, while stimulus-release coupling and radioimmunoassays will be used to study hormone release. The long range goal is to utilize this knowledge for the development of better treatments for ethanol addiction.
| Kuperman, Samuel; Chan, Grace; Kramer, John et al. (2017) A GABRA2 polymorphism improves a model for prediction of drinking initiation. Alcohol 63:1-8 |
| Kamarajan, Chella; Pandey, Ashwini K; Chorlian, David B et al. (2015) Reward processing deficits and impulsivity in high-risk offspring of alcoholics: A study of event-related potentials during a monetary gambling task. Int J Psychophysiol 98:182-200 |
| Kamarajan, Chella; Pandey, Ashwini K; Chorlian, David B et al. (2015) Deficient Event-Related Theta Oscillations in Individuals at Risk for Alcoholism: A Study of Reward Processing and Impulsivity Features. PLoS One 10:e0142659 |
| Pandey, Ashwini K; Kamarajan, Chella; Rangaswamy, Madhavi et al. (2012) Event-Related Oscillations in Alcoholism Research: A Review. J Addict Res Ther Suppl 7: |
