Darlene H. Brunzell, Ph.D. Assistant Professor 410 N 12th, Room 738 Robert Blackwell Smith Building P.O. Box 980613 Richmond, Virginia 23298-0613 Phone: (804) 628-7584 Fax: (804) 828-2117 E-mail: dbrunzell@vcu.edu Publications: selected | PubMed Lab: Video:

Education: University of Massachusetts, 1999

Research interests: Neuropharmacology of drugs of abuse and mental illness; Mechanisms of learning and memory; Developmental Toxicology; Sex differences

Drug addiction and diseases such as schizophrenia are multifaceted disorders that are sensitive to genetic vulnerability as well as to environmental factors. Our work combines genetic and pharmacological techniques with various behavioral components of drug addiction and mental illness. This strategy enables us to elucidate the neurochemical and molecular mechanisms of complex behaviors relevant to drug addiction and mental illness as well as to identify mechanistically how these disorders overlap. One focus of the laboratory is to identify the contributions of various nicotinic receptor subunits to the primary rewarding effects of nicotine versus nicotinic receptor regulation of cue learning and motivation. This is accomplished with a combination of techniques that manipulate target genes in behaving animals as well as studies that use molecular and neurochemical endpoints. We are additionally interested in contributions of sex to drug addiction and related illness and on the effects of drug exposure on the developing brain.

Selected publications:

Brunzell, D. H. (2007). Neurochemistry of nicotine addiction, Ed. S.B. Karch, Drug Abuse Handbook, New York, NY: CRC Press.

Hawes, J.J., Brunzell, D.H., Narasimhaiah, R., Langel, U., Wynick, D. and Picciotto, M.R. (2008). Galanin protects against behavioral and neurochemical correlates of opiate reward. Neuropsychopharmacology. 33(8):1864-73. Epub 2007 Oct 24.

Brunzell, D. H., Chang, J. R., Schneider, B., Olausson, P., Taylor, J. R., and Picciotto, M. R. (2006). β2 subunit containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are necessary for persistent effects of chronic nicotine exposure on conditioned reinforcement. Psychopharmacology, 184(3-4):328-38.

Brunzell, D. H., Russell, D. S., and Picciotto. (2003). In vivo nicotine regulates mesocorticolimbic CREB and ERK signaling in C57BL/6J mice. Journal of Neurochemistry, 84(6), 1431-1441.

Brunzell, D. H., Coy, A. E., Ayres, J. J. B., and Meyer, J. S. (2002). Prenatal cocaine effects on context conditioning: exaggeration of sex-dependent context extinction. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 24,
161-172.
 

back to top