Joyce Besheer, Ph.D.

Email: jbesheer@med.unc.edu

Office Phone: (919) 843-4389

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 ethanol’s stimulus properties.  All drugs of abuse share the common attribute that they produce subjective stimulus effects in humans (e.g., the feeling of “drunkenness” that accompanies alcohol drinking).  These subjective effects contribute to drug taking 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 ethanol’s stimulus properties (K01 Award).  Another area of interest is the neurobiology of ethanol reinforcement using animal models of ethanol self-administration.  Using a multidisciplinary approach Dr. Besheer and colleagues are investigating the involvement of mGluRs in ethanol reinforcement and in the motivation to self-administer ethanol.  Together, studying mechanisms involved in ethanol’s stimulus properties and ethanol reinforcement 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, Faccidomo S, Grondin JJ, Hodge CW. Effects of mGlu1-receptor blockade on ethanol self-administration in inbred alcohol-preferring rats. Alcohol. 2008 Feb;42(1):13-20.
2. Besheer J, Faccidomo S, Grondin JJ, Hodge CW. Regulation of motivation to self-administer ethanol by mGluR5 in alcohol-preferring (P) rats. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2008 Feb;32(2):209-21.
3. Stevenson RA, Besheer J, Hodge CW. Comparison of ethanol locomotor sensitization in adolescent and adult DBA/2J mice. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2008 Apr;197(3):361-70.
4. Wilkie MB, Besheer J, Kelley SP, Kumar S, O'Buckley TK, Morrow AL, Hodge CW. Acute ethanol administration rapidly increases phosphorylation of conventional protein kinase C in specific mammalian brain regions in vivo. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2007 Jul;31(7):1259-67.
5. Besheer J, Stevenson RA, Hodge CW. mGlu5 receptors are involved in the discriminative stimulus effects of self-administered ethanol in rats. Eur J Pharmacol. 2006 Dec 3;551(1-3):71-5. Epub 2006 Sep 8.
6. Parnell SE, Dehart DB, Wills TA, Chen SY, Hodge CW, Besheer J, Waage-Baudet HG, Charness ME, Sulik KK. Maternal oral intake mouse model for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: ocular defects as a measure of effect. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2006 Oct;30(10):1791-8.
7. Besheer J, Lepoutre V, Mole B, Hodge CW. GABAA receptor regulation of voluntary ethanol drinking requires PKCepsilon . Synapse. 2006 Nov;60(6):411-9.
8. Hodge CW, Grant KA, Becker HC, Besheer J, Crissman AM, Platt DM, Shannon EE, Shelton KL. Understanding how the brain perceives alcohol: neurobiological basis of ethanol discrimination . Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2006 Feb;30(2):203-13.
9. Hodge CW, Miles MF, Sharko AC, Stevenson RA, Hillmann JR, Lepoutre V, Besheer J, Schroeder JP. The mGluR5 antagonist MPEP selectively inhibits the onset and maintenance of ethanol self-administration in C57BL/6J mice . Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2006 Jan;183(4):429-38.
10. Besheer J, Hodge CW. Pharmacological and anatomical evidence for an interaction between mGluR5- and GABA(A) alpha1-containing receptors in the discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2005 Apr;30(4):747-57.