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William L. Woolverton,
Ph.D. CPN Scientific Director Mentoring and Education Core Leader Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Associate Chairman for Research, Department of Psychiatry and Human behavior The University of Mississippi Medical Center Division of Neurobiology and Behavior Research Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39216-4505 Phone: (601) 815-1022 FAX: (601) 984-5899
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The
goal of the Laboratory of Drug Abuse Research is to improve our
understanding of the interaction between pharmacological,
environmental, and neurochemical variables that control drug abuse.
The approach involves combining techniques of in vivo
pharmacology with those of behavior analysis to study intravenous
self-administration, drug discrimination, and the direct effects of
drugs on the behavior of animals. Animal subjects serve as an
excellent model for studying the effects of drugs of abuse under
controlled laboratory conditions. With regard to pharmacology and
neurochemistry, recent research has focused on the roles of D1 and
D2 dopamine receptors, and the dopamine transporter, in the abuse
of psychomotor stimulants such as cocaine. With regard to the role
of the environment, current efforts are concentrated on
understanding how environmental conditions determine the choice
that animals (and humans) make among drug taking and other
available activities.
Fantegrossi, W.E., Woolverton, W.L., Winger, G., Coop, A. and Woods,
J.H.: Reinforcing and discriminative stimulus effects of
l-benzylpiperazine and trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine in rhesus
monkeys. Drug Alc. Depend. 77: 161-168, 2005. |
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