Amber LaCrosse

Northern Michigan University | NMU · Department of Psychology

Rationale Positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of type 5 metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR5) exert pro-cognitive effects in animal models of various neuropsychiatric diseases. However, few studies to date have examined ability of mGluR5 PAMs to reverse cognitive deficits in operant delayed matching/non-matching-to-sample (DMS/DNMS) tasks. Ob...

Positive and negative allosteric modulators (PAMs and NAMs, respectively) of type 5 metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR5) are currently being investigated as novel treatments for neuropsychiatric diseases including drug addiction, schizophrenia, and Fragile X syndrome. However, only a handful of studies have examined the effects of mGluR5 PAMs...

Cocaine is a psychostimulant that is one of the most widely used illicit drugs, particularly in America. Cocaine addiction is a chronic relapsing disease that is characterized by drug craving and loss of inhibitory control. Animal models of psychiatric diseases are essential to identify underlying neural circuitry and to test the effectiveness of n...

Long-term treatment with ceftriaxone attenuates the reinstatement of cocaine seeking while increasing the function of the glutamate transporter 1 (GLT-1) and system xC- (Sxc) in the nucleus accumbens core (NAc). Sxc contributes the majority of nonsynaptic extracellular glutamate in the NAc, while GLT-1 is responsible for the majority of glutamate u...

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is caused by exposure to a traumatic or stressful event. Symptoms related to this disorder include persistent re-experiencing of memories and fear generalization. Current pharmacological treatments for PTSD are insufficient, with fewer than 30% of patients reporting symptom remission. This study aims to determi...

AXL, a member of the TAM family of tyrosine kinases, engages cellular pathways that promote a cancer phenotype. In glioblastoma, increasing AXL expression is associated with worse prognosis. The extracellular domain of AXL is cleaved by the sheddases ADAM10 and ADAM17, releasing soluble AXL (sAXL), which is detectable in blood and tumor related flu...

Background: Cocaine use disorder is characterized by compulsive drug-seeking that persists long into abstinence. Work using rodent models of cocaine addiction has found evidence for reversal learning deficits 21 days after non-contingent cocaine administration and 60 days after self-administration. Here we sought to determine if a deficit in rever...

Cocaine use disorder is a chronically relapsing disease without FDA-approved treatments. Using a rodent model of cocaine relapse, we and others have previously demonstrated that the beta-lactam antibiotic ceftriaxone attenuates cue- and cocaine-primed reinstatement of cocaine-seeking. Ceftriaxone restores cocaine-induced deficits in both system xc-...

As patients with cancer are living longer, the incidence of brain metastasis is rising. Current treatment options for metastatic brain tumors are very limited. Axl, a receptor tyrosine kinase, has been reported as a key mediator for epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process necessary for metastasis to occur. Increases of Axl expression hav...

INTRODUCTION The establishment of a disease model that adequately reflects the characteristics of metastatic brain tumors is crucial to the development of novel therapeutics. Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models have a high clinical relevance, offering the potential for individualized patient treatment. Previous research demonstrated that success...

INTRODUCTION Murine glioblastoma patient derived xenografts (PDX) hold great promise in the development of personalized, treatments. Additionally, murine avatars present an unparalleled opportunity to understand the mechanisms of GBM initiation, progression, migration and invasion, and resistance to treatment. The quality of the data obtained when...

Using the extinction-reinstatement model of cocaine relapse, we and others have demonstrated that the antibiotic ceftriaxone attenuates cue- and cocaine-primed reinstatement of cocaine-seeking. Reinstatement is contingent on the release of glutamate in the nucleus accumbens core (NAc) and manipulations that reduce glutamate efflux or block post-syn...

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a chronic, recurring illness with a lifetime prevalence of 16.5% in the United States [1]. For the past 50 years, drugs that increase the synaptic availability of monoamines (norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine) have been used to treat depression [2]. However, these traditional antidepressants take at least 2...

Cue-induced cocaine craving is a major cause of relapse in abstinent addicts. In rats, cue-induced craving progressively intensifies (incubates) during withdrawal from extended-access cocaine self-administration. After ∼1 month of withdrawal, incubated craving is mediated by Ca(2+)-permeable AMPA receptors (CP-AMPARs) that accumulate in the nucleus...

Neurotensin is an endogenous neuropeptide that has significant interactions with monoamine neurotransmitter systems. To date, neurotensin NTS1 receptor agonists, such as PD149163, have been primarily evaluated for the treatment for schizophrenia, drug addiction, and pain. Recently, PD149163 was found to attenuate fear-potentiated startle in rats, a...

Schizophrenia affects approximately 1% of the world population, and the majority of pharmacologically based treatments for this disorder are ligands that interact with monoaminergic transmission. However, there is a wealth of evidence that various neuropeptides are often co-released with monoamine neurotransmitters, and that ligands acting at neuro...

Glutamate plays a pivotal role in drug addiction, and the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor subtype serves as a molecular target for several drugs of abuse. In this review, we will provide an overview of NMDA receptor structure and function, followed by a review of the mechanism of action, clinical efficacy, and side effect profile of...

Adult-generated neurons in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus play a role in various forms of learning and memory. However, adult born neurons in the DG, while still at an immature stage, exhibit unique electrophysiological properties and are also functionally implicated in learning and memory processes. We investigated the effects of extinc...

Schizophrenia is a neuropsychiatric disorder that affects about 1% of the entire population. Schizophrenia is accompanied by positive and negative symptoms as well as cognitive deficits. It has been suggested that the cognitive deficits occur because of a decreased availability of dopamine within the prefrontal cortex. Neurotensin analogs act as ne...