Faculty & Research

Associate Director
Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies

Professor
Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology

Member
UNC Neuroscience Center, Curriculum in Neurobiology,
and Curriculum in Toxicology

Office | 3027 Thurston-Bowles Bldg, CB#7178

Email | morrow@med.unc.edu

Lab Website | Molecular Neuropharmacology

Research Projects

Neurosteroid and Ethanol Interactions (MERIT Award):
The major goal of this project is to investigate the role of neuroactive steroids in ethanol action, tolerance and dependence.

Mechanisms of Addiction Pathogenesis
The major goal of this project is to determine the molecular mechanisms that underlie chronic ethanol-induced adaptations of GABA-A receptors in brain and cultured cerebral cortical neurons.

Stress, Alcohol and GABAergic Neuroactive Steroids:
The objective of this project is to elucidate the role of neuroactive steroids in the link between stress and excessive alcohol intake, including studies of neuroadaptive changes caused by chronic alcohol exposure.

Center Line Articles

• Morrow Lab Identifies Mechanisms of Alcohol Sensitivity: A Key Mediator of Risk for Alcohol Dependence (Vol 17, No. 4, 2006)

• Morrow Lab Finds New Mechanisms of Alcohol Dependence ( Vol 14, No. 4, 2003)

Recent Publications

Click here for a full list of publications from PubMed

Morrow AL. Recent developments in the significance and therapeutic relevance of neuroactive steroids. Introduction to the special issue. Pharmacol Ther. 2007

Morrow AL, Porcu P, Boyd KN, Grant KA. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis modulation of GABAergic neuroactive steroids influences ethanol sensitivity and drinking behavior.
Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2006;8(4):463-77.

Kumar S, Lane BM, Morrow AL. Differential Effects of Systemic Ethanol Administration on Protein Kinase Ce, g, and b Isoform Expression, Membrane Translocation, and Target Phosphorylation: Reversal by Chronic Ethanol Exposure.  J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2006 Dec;319(3):1366-75.

Porcu P, Rogers LS, Morrow AL, Grant KA.  Plasma pregnenolone levels in cynomolgus monkeys following pharmacological challenges of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2006 Aug;84(4):618-27.

Pierucci-Lagha A, Covault J, Feinn R, Khisti RT, Morrow AL, Marx CE, Shampine LJ, Kranzler HR.  Subjective effects and changes in steroid hormone concentrations in humans following acute consumption of alcohol.  Psychopharmacology (Berl) .2006 June; 186 (3): 451-61. 

Holdstock L, Penland SN, Morrow AL, de Wit H. Moderate doses of ethanol fail to increase plasma levels of neurosteroid 3alpha-hydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-20-one-like immunoreactivity in healthy men and women. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2005 Oct 21;1-9.

Kumar S, Khisti RT, Morrow AL. Regulation of native GABA(A) receptors by PKC and protein phosphatase activity. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2005 Dec;183(2):241-7. 2005 Nov 9.

Porcu P, Grant KA, Green HL, Rogers LS, Morrow AL. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and ethanol modulation of deoxycorticosterone levels in cynomolgus monkeys. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2005 Aug 13;:1-9.

Khisti RT, Boyd KN, Kumar S, Morrow AL. Systemic ethanol administration elevates deoxycorticosterone levels and chronic ethanol exposure attenuates this response. Brain Res. 2005 Jul 5;1049(1):104-11.

Kralic JE, Criswell HE, Osterman JL, O'Buckley TK, Wilkie ME, Matthews DB, Hamre K, Breese GR, Homanics GE, Morrow AL. Genetic essential tremor in gamma-aminobutyric acidA receptor alpha1 subunit knockout mice. J Clin Invest. 2005 Mar;115(3):774-9.