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

The effects of acute and chronic ethanol exposure on presynaptic and postsynaptic gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmission in cultured cortical and hippocampal neurons. Fleming RL, Manis PB, Morrow AL. Alcohol. 2009 Dec;43(8):603-18.

The role of neuroactive steroids in ethanol/stress interactions: proceedings of symposium VII at the Volterra conference on alcohol and stress, Morrow AL, Biggio G, Serra M, Becker HC, Lopez MF, Porcu P, Alward SE, O'Buckley TK. Alcohol. 2009 Nov;43(7):521-30.

The role of GABA(A) receptors in the acute and chronic effects of ethanol: a decade of progress. Kumar S, Porcu P, Werner DF, Matthews DB, Diaz-Granados JL, Helfand RS, Morrow AL. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2009 Sep;205(4):529-64.

Proof-of-concept trial with the neurosteroid pregnenolone targeting cognitive and negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Marx CE, Keefe RS, Buchanan RW, Hamer RM, Kilts JD, Bradford DW, Strauss JL, Naylor JC, Payne VM, Lieberman JA, Savitz AJ, Leimone LA, Dunn L, Porcu P, Morrow AL, Shampine LJ. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2009 Jul;34(8):1885-903.

Simultaneous quantification of GABAergic 3alpha,5alpha/3alpha,5beta neuroactive steroids in human and rat serum. Porcu P, O'Buckley TK, Alward SE, Marx CE, Shampine LJ, Girdler SS, Morrow AL. Steroids. 2009 Apr-May;74(4-5):463-73.

Boyd KN, O'Buckley TK, Morrow AL. Role of acetaldehyde in ethanol-induced elevation of the neuroactive steroid 3alpha-hydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-20-one in rats.Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2008 Oct;32(10):1774-81.

Matthews DB, Morrow AL, O'Buckley T, Flanigan TJ, Berry RB, Cook MN, Mittleman G, Goldowitz D, Tokunaga S, Silvers JM. Acute mild footshock alters ethanol drinking and plasma corticosterone levels in C57BL/6J male mice, but not DBA/2J or A/J male mice. Alcohol. 2008 Sep;42(6):469-76.

Morrow AL. Recent developments in the significance and therapeutic relevance of neuroactive steroids - Introduction to the special issue. Pharmacol Ther. Oct;116(1):1-6. 2007.

Mechlin B, Morrow AL, Maixner W, Girdler SS. The relationship of allopregnanolone immunoreactivity and HPA-axis measures to experimental pain sensitivity: Evidence for ethnic differences. Pain. 2007 Sep;131(1-2):142-52.

Wilkie MB, Besheer J, Kelley SP, Kumar S, O'Buckley TK, Morrow AL, Hodge CW.
Acute ethanol administration rapidly increases phosphorylation of conventional protein kinase C in specific mammalian brain regions in vivo. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2007 Jul;31(7):1259-67.