Joyce Besheer, Ph.D.

Email: jbesheer@med.unc.edu

Office Phone: (919) 843-4389

Education:

B.S., Psychology, Indiana University

M.S., Biopsychology, University of Nebraska

Ph.D., Biopsychology, University of Nebraska

Postdoctoral Training, Behavioral Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Summary Statement:

Dr. Besheer’s research interests include studying the neurobiological mechanisms underlying alcoholism and addiction. Her major area of interest is the neurobiology of the subjective (i.e., interoceptive) effects alcohol. All drugs of abuse share the common attribute that they produce subjective stimulus effects in humans (e.g., the feeling of “drunkenness” or lightheadedness that accompanies alcohol drinking). These subjective effects are a major controlling process of drug seeking behavior. At the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, Dr. Besheer is using behavioral pharmacology techniques to examine the involvement of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) in the subjective effects of alcohol (K01 Award) and the effects of HPA axis dysregulation on the subjective effects of alcohol. Another area of interest is the neurobiology of alcohol reinforcement and alcohol seeking-behavior. Together, understanding mechanisms that modulate the subjective and reinforcing effects of alcohol has numerous implications for the development of therapeutic interventions in alcoholism and for identifying factors that influence pathological behavioral processes in addiction, such as drug taking and relapse.

Representative Publications:

1. Besheer J, Grondin JJM, Salling MC, Spanos M, Stevenson RA, Hodge CW (2009) Interoceptive effects of alcohol require mGlu5 receptor activity in the nucleus accumbens. Journal of Neuroscience, 29:9580-91.
2. Besheer J, Grondin JJM, Cannady R, Sharko AC, Faccidomo S, Hodge CW (2010) Metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 activity in the nucleus accumbens is required for the maintenance of ethanol self-administration in a rat genetic model of high alcohol intake. Biological Psychiatry, 67:812-22.
3. Arolfo MP, Overstreet DH, Yao L, Fan P, Lawrence AJ, Tao G, Keung W-M, Azar MR, Olive MF, Gass JT, LaLumiere RT, Kalivas P, Rubin E, Anni H, Hodge CW, Besheer J, Zablocki J, Leung K, Lange LG, Diamond I (2009). Suppression of heavy drinking and alcohol-seeking by a selective ALDH-2 inhibitor. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 33:1935-44.
4. Besheer J, Lepoutre V, Hodge CW (2009). Preclinical evaluation of riluzole: assessments of ethanol self-administration and ethanol withdrawal symptoms. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 33:1460-8.
5. Faccidomo S, Besheer J, Stanford PC, Hodge CW (2009) Increased operant responding for ethanol in male C57BL/6J mice: specific regulation by the ERK1/2, but not JNK, MAP Kinase pathway. Psychopharmacology, 204:135-47.
6. Besheer J, Schroeder JP, Stevenson RA, Hodge CW (2008). Ethanol-induced alterations of c-Fos immunoreactivity in specific limbic brain regions following ethanol discrimination training. Brain Research, 1232:124-31.
7. Besheer J, Faccidomo S, Grondin JJM, Hodge CW (2008). Regulation of motivation to self-administer ethanol by mGluR5 in alcohol preferring (P) rats. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 32: 209-221.
8. Besheer J, Faccidomo S, Grondin JJM, Hodge CW (2008). Effects of mGlu1 receptor blockade on ethanol self-administration in inbred alcohol-preferring (iP) rats. Alcohol, 42:13-20.