Transgenerational Inheritance of a Cocaine Resistance Phenotype
- Leading Researcher:
- Chris Pierce, Ph.D.
- interest:
- Substance use/use disorder
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Graduate/Medical Students is accepted
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Post Docs is accepted
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Residents is accepted
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Undergraduates is accepted
Official Title:
Transgenerational Inheritance of a Cocaine Resistance Phenotype
A growing body of evidence indicates that environmental information can be inherited, which suggests that changes in the mammalian germline can act as a trans-generational carrier of environmental information. Here, we describe a rat model developed in order to delineate heritable behavioral characteristics resulting from the self-administration of cocaine. Our results indicate that the male progeny and grand-progeny of cocaine experienced sires have learning deficits. The experiments described in this application will use state-of-the-art molecular, electrophysiological and behavioral methodologies to examine the mechanisms whereby cocaine- associated information can be transmitted from sires to offspring and assess specific neuronal changes that may underlie this paternally transmitted phenotype associated with cocaine self-administration.