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Education:
B.S., Chemistry: Duke University
Ph.D., Pharmacology: Yale University
Summary
Statement:
The focus of research is the action of neuroactive
steroids in the brain. Neuroactive steroids
are steroid metabolites with biological
activity at plasma membrane proteins (ion
channels, receptors and transporters) rather
than classical intracellular steroid receptors.
The primary thrust of research in this lab
seeks to understand the effects of neurosteroids
on development, particularly how neurosteroid
levels in the developing cortex affect patterns
of migration and neurogenesis in the prefrontal
cortex. Work in this laboratory has demonstrated
that perturbations in neurosteroid levels
(due to stress, infection, or genetic factors)
at critical stages of development alter
adult localization of a subclass of GABAergic
neurons in a manner similar to the pattern
seen in schizophrenics. The prefrontal cortex
in mammals is a unique area of the brain
because it develops almost entirely after
birth and does not fully mature until the
period of adolescence. Since prefrontal
cortex receives the majority of its inputs
from the medial dorsal nucleus of the thalamus,
the effect of neurosteroid administration
on the medial dorsal thalamus is also of
interest. A secondary interest is the mechanisms
by which increases in neurosteroid levels
might be relevant to their therapeutic action.
Apolipoprotein
D is one potential site of therapeutic action
for atypical antipsychotics that could work
in concert with altered levels of neuroactive
steroids and explain changes in brain morphology.
Representative Publications:
1. Grobin AC, Lieberman JA, Morrow AL (2004)
Perinatal flunitrazepam exposure causes
persistent alteration of parvalbumin-immunoreactive
interneuron localization in rat prefrontal
cortex. Neuroscience Letters 359(1-2):9-12.
2.
Gizerian SS, Morrow AL, Lieberman JA, Grobin
AC (2004) Neonatal neurosteroid administration
alters parvalbumin expression and neuron
number in medial dorsal thalamus of adult
rats. Brain Research-Main Journal 1012(1-2):66-74.
3.
Marx CE, Grobin AC, Deutch AY, Lieberman
JA (2004) Atypical antipsychotic drugs and
stress. In: Handbook on Stress and the Brain,
Steckler (ed) Oxford Press, London (pp 1119-1131).
4.
Grobin AC, Heenan EJ, Lieberman JA
and Morrow AL: Perinatal neurosteroid
levels influence GABAergic interneuron
localization in adult rat prefrontal
cortex. Journal of Neuroscience 23:1832-1839,
2003.
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