Faculty & Research

 

The Preclinical Molecular Neuropharmacology Research Team

Morrow Lab (left to right): Nikki Leonard, Alex Fetzer, Lihan Deng, Ana Maria Dumitru, Todd O’Buckley, Smita Gupta, A. Leslie Morrow, Ph.D., Chandler Walker, Jason Cook, and Patrizia Porcu, Ph.D.

Lab Phone:  (919) 966-4977

Current Research Projects

--Neurosteroids and Ethanol Interactions

--Mechanisms of Alcohol Addiction Pathogenesis

--Stress, Alcohol and GABAergic Neuroactive Steroids

Research Contributions

--Discovered that neurosteroids mediate specific pharmacological effects of ethanol in rodents and contribute to subjective effects of ethanol in humans.

--Found that alcohol-dependent rats are sensitized to the anticonvulsant effects of neurosteroids. Neurosteroids protect against the CNS hyperexcitability of alcohol withdrawal.

--Discovered that chronic ethanol consumption alters GABAA receptor function, due to alterations in gene expression, receptor phosphorylation, and receptor trafficking.

--Identified a neurosteroid marker of risk for binge alcohol consumption in cynomologus monkeys.  Dexamethasone  suppression of plasma deoxycorticosterone and pregnenolone predict high alcohol drinking.

--Found that chronic ethanol consumption alters neurosteroid responses to HPA axis modulation.