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Neuroscience Graduate Program at UCSF
Behavioral Neuroscience of Addiction and Reinforcement
Work in my laboratory is based on the premise that addiction is a behavioral phenomenon that depends critically upon an animal's experience with the drug, and upon the modulation of drug-related behavior by conditioning. Therefore, we believe that an understanding of the underlying neural basis for alcohol and drug addiction will arise from investigations of neuronal function directly within animal models of addictive behavior.
To that end, we use extracellular ensemble neurophysiological recording to measure the activity of neurons in awake behaving rodents during the operant self-administration of alcohol, other drugs of abuse, and natural rewards. These studies examine the contribution of neural activity patterns within the brain reward circuitry to alcohol- and drug-seeking behavior. By recording from ensembles of single-units located within the nucleus accumbens during operant responding for oral alcohol solutions, we determined that there are phasic changes in the response of neuronal subpopulations that are tightly correlated in time with the major behavioral events that occur within the behavioral sequence performed to obtain alcohol. We now are examining the contribution of accumbens afferents both to patterns of neural activity and to alcohol self administration.
We also use behavioral pharmacological techniques to understand the contribution of specific neurochemical and neuroanatomical systems to the effects of alcohol on behavior. Current work emphasizes the role of conditioned cues in controlling different phases of self-administration, including the maintenance of the behavior and relapse after the behavior has been extinguished.
Cory Blaiss
Graduate Student
Nadia Chaudhri, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Jackson Cone
Staff Research Associate
Laura Corbit, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Scientist
T. Michael Gill, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
Terry Kremin, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Irina Merzlyak, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Hong Nie, Ph.D.
Associate Research Scientist
Victoria Powell
Staff Research Associate
Mridula Rewal, M.D.
Assistant Research Scientist
Lacey Sahuque
Staff Research Associate
Will Schairer
Research Assistant
Steve Shabel
Graduate Student
Kay Tye
Graduate Student
Bhavana Vishnubhotla
Graduate Student
Link to Publications via PubMed
Nie, H. and Janak, P.H. (2003) Comparison of reinstatement of ethanol- and sucrose-seeking by conditioned stimuli and priming injections of allopregnanolone after extinction in rats, Psychopharmacology, 168, 222-228.
Janak, P.H., Chen, M.-T., and Caulder, T. (2004) Dynamics of neural coding in the accumbens during extinction and reinstatement of rewarded behavior, Behavioural Brain Research, 154, 125-135.
He, D.-Y., McGough, N.N.H., Ravindranathan, A., Jeanblanc, J., Logrip, M., Phamluong, K., Janak, P.H. and Ron, D. (2005) Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor mediates the desirable actions of the anti-addiction drug ibogaine against alcohol consumption. Journal of Neuroscience, 25, 619-628.
Zironi, I., Burattini, C., Aicardi, G. and Janak, P.H. (2006) Context is a trigger for relapse to alcohol. Behavioural Brain Research, 167, 150-155.
Jeanblanc, J., He, D.Y., McGough, N.N.H., Logrip, M.L., Phamluong, K., Janak, P.H., Ron, D. (2006) The dopamine D3 receptor is part of a homeostatic pathway regulating ethanol consumption, Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 1457-1464.
Burattini, C., Gill, T.M., Aicardi, G., and Janak, P.H. (2006) The ethanol self-administration context as a reinstatement cue: acute effects of naltrexone, Neuroscience, 139, 877-887.
Blaiss, C.A. and Janak, P.H. (2006) Post-training and post-reactivation administration of amphetamine enhances morphine conditioned place preference, Behavioural Brain Research, 171, 329-337.
Lasek, A, Janak, P.H., He, L., Whistler, J. and Heberlein, U (2007) Downregulation of mu opioid receptor by RNAi in the VTA reduces ethanol consumption in mice, Genes, Brain and Behavior, doi:10.1111/j.1601-183X.2007.00303.x [epub ahead of print].
Corbit, L. H. and Janak, P.H. (2007) Ethanol-associated cues produce general Pavlovian-instrumental transfer, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 31, 1-9.
Wang, J., Jeanblanc, J., Yaka, R., Chaudhri, N., Janak, P.H., and Ron, D. (2007) Ethanol Induces Long-Term Facilitation of NR2B-NMDA Receptor Activity in the Dorsal Striatum: Implications for Alcohol Drinking Behavior, Journal of Neuroscience, 27, 3593-3602.
Tye, K.M. and Janak, P.H. (2007) Amygdala neurons differentially encode motivation and reinforcement, Journal of Neuroscience, 27, 3937-3945.
Patricia H. Janak, Ph.D.
Phone
510-985-3880
Office Location
Ernest Gallo Clinic & Research Center, Emeryville
Mailing Address
Ernest Gallo Clinic & Research Center
5858 Horton Street, Suite 200
Emeryville, CA 94608
Other Websites
Wheeler Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction