|
|||||||||||||||
Principal Investigator
|
|||||||||||||||
|
Physiological Psychology
Primary Research Areas
Brain dopamine systems; alcohol craving; fetal alcohol syndrome.
On-going Research
Dopamine Function After Prenatal Ethanol Exposure (funded by NIAAA). Dr. Shen nvestigated how prenatal ethanol exposure influences the postnatal development of dopamine neurotransmission, how dopamine neurotransmission can be normalized by amphetamine-like stimulants, and more about the cellular mechanisms leading to these changes.
Chronic Ethanol, Dopamine Electrophysiology and Craving (funded by NIAAA). Dr. Shen investigated the neurological basis of alcohol craving with electrophysiological and neurochemical methods. The results obtained will improve our understanding for the neural mechanisms of alcohol craving and may lead to more effective pharmacological therapy for alcoholism.
|
Representative and Recent Publications
Aman, R. K., Shen, R., & Haj-Dahmane, S. (2007). D2-like dopamine receptors depolarize dorsal raphe serotonin neurons through the activation of nonselective cationic conductance. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 320, 376-385.
Shen, R., Choong, K. C., & Thompson, A. C. (2007). Long-term reduction in ventral tegmental area dopamine neuron population activity following repeated stimulant or ethanol treatment. Biological Psychiatry, 61, 93-100. Shen, R., & Choong, K.C. (2006). Different adaptations in ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons in control and ethanol exposed rats after methylphenidate treatment. Biological Psychiatry, 59, 635-642. Wang, J., Haj-Dahmane, S., Shen, R. (2006). Effects of prenatal ethanol exposure on the excitability of ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons in vitro. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 319, 857-863. Haj-Dahmane, S., & Shen, R. (2005). The wake-promoting peptide orexin-B inhibits glutamatergic transmission to dorsal raphe nucleus serontonin neurons through retrograde endocannabinoid signaling. Journal of Neuroscience, 25, 896-905.
Hausknecht, R. A., Acheson A., Farrar, A. M., Kieres, A. K., Sabol, K. E., Shen, R., & Richards, J.B. (2005). Prenatal alcohol exposure causes attention deficits in male rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 119, 302-310.
Choong, K. C., & Shen, R. (2004). Methylphenidate restores VTA dopamine neuron activity in prenatal ethanol exposed rats by augmenting dopamine neurotransmission. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 309, 444-451.
Choong, K. C., & Shen, R. (2004). Prenatal ethanol exposure alters the postnatal development of the spontaneous electrical activity of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area. Neuroscience, 126, 1083-1091.
|
| Back to Top. |