In: Neuroscience, 2009, vol. 159, no. 1, p. 47-58
Multiple theories have been proposed for sensation seeking and vulnerability to impulse-control disorders [Zuckerman M, Kuhlman DM (2000) Personality and risk-taking: Common biosocial factors. J Pers 68:999–1029], and many of these rely on a dopamine system deficit. Available animal models reproduce only some behavioral symptoms and seem devoid of construct validity. We used lentivirus tools...
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In: The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2010, p. -
Dysfunction of brain dopamine transporter (DAT) has been associated with sensation seeking and impulse-control disorders. We recently generated a new animal model by stereotaxical inoculation of lentiviral vectors, which allowed localized intra-accumbal delivery of modulators for DAT gene: GFP (green fluorescent protein) control, silencers (Sil), a regulatable enhancer (DAT+), or both (DAT+Sil)....
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In: Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2014, vol. 38, no. 9, p. 2369–2376
Background: It has been reported that dopamine D3 receptor (D3R) knockout mice display similar ethanol (EtOH) consumption compared to wild types. In addition, studies with D3R pharmacological targeting were inconclusive.Methods: In the current study, we used both gain- and loss-of-function approaches to test the effects of central D3R manipulation on voluntary alcohol intake and EtOH-induced...
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In: Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2014, vol. 46, p. 78–87
Several lines of evidences suggest that the brain-derived neutrophic factor (BDNF) is implicated in the pathophysiology of depression. However, the molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. In the current study we aimed to investigate how genetic modulation of BDNF in the hippocampus using microRNa124a (miR124a)-expressing lentiviral vectors (LV) might affect depression-like behavior in...
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In: Journal of Neurochemistry, 2006, vol. 98, no. 5, p. 1619–1631
Serine proteases in the nervous system have functional roles in neural plasticity. Among them, urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) exerts a variety of functions during development, and is involved in learning and memory. Furthermore, psychostimulants strongly induce uPA expression in the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway. In this study, doxycycline-regulatable lentiviruses expressing either...
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In: Behavioural Brain Research, 2008, vol. 191, no. 1, p. 17-25
Cocaine and many other psychostimulants strongly induce urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) expression in the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway, which plays a major role in drug-mediated behavioral plasticity [Bahi A, Boyer F, Gumy C, Kafri T, Dreyer JL. In vivo gene delivery of urokinase-type plasminogen activator with regulatable lentivirus induces behavioral changes in chronic cocaine...
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In: Genes, Brain and Behavior, 2008, vol. 7, no. 2, p. 244 - 256
Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) are extracellular proteases that play a role in synaptic plasticity and remodeling. Psychostimulants induce both tPA and uPA in acute and chronic drug delivery, but cocaine induces preferentially uPA, whereas morphine and amphetamine induce preferentially tPA. Specific doxycline-regulatable lentiviruses...
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In: Neuropsychopharmacology, 2008, vol. 33, p. 2726–2734
Extracellular serine proteases of the plasminogen activator family (tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) may modulate synaptic adhesion and associate with learning behavior. Psychostimulants strongly induce their expression in the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway, but cocaine preferentially induces uPA, whereas morphine and amphetamine...
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In: Behavioural Brain Research, 2011, vol. 226, no. 1, p. 250–258
Ethanol is one of the most abused drugs in the western societies. It is well established that mesolimbic dopaminergic neurons mediate the rewarding properties of ethanol. In our previous studies we have shown that the serine protease tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is involved in the rewarding properties of morphine and amphetamine. In the current study, we investigated the role of tPA in...
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In: European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2012, p. -
Anxiety and depression are multifactorial disorders that have become prominent health problems all over the world. Neurotrophic factors have emerged underlying pathogenesis of these diseases. Although a number of studies indicate that the hippocampus-brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) may be involved in these psychiatric illnesses, little is known about the molecular mediators of these...
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