Harish M. Kawade

• PhD Student at Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University

Neuropeptide S (NPS), a 20-amino acid bioactive molecule has emerged as a promising treatment target for substance abuse in preclinical research. However, its role in nicotine reward, a major contributor to tobacco addiction, remains unexplored. This study investigated the involvement of the NPS system in reward-related effects of nicotine using th...

Healthcare waste includes a wide range of items, such as contaminated injection assemblies, diagnostic testing samples, blood components, harmful chemicals, medical equipment, medicinal products, and radioactive substances. According to the World Health Organization, 15% of healthcare waste is considered hazardous: infectious, toxic, or radioactive...

The inability to extinguish learned fear is a hallmark of trauma- and stress-related disorders. A form of inhibitory learning called fear extinction is an effective way to treat these disorders. However, the neurobiology of fear extinction has not been clarified. The involvement of a dopaminergic pathway from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the...

Opioid receptor agonists are effective analgesic agents. Central activation of the mu and/or kappa opioid receptors (KOR) is associated with CNS side effects, which limits their effectiveness. Recent studies indicated that peripherally restricted, selective KOR agonists were potent analgesics and devoid of CNS-related side effects. To confirm this...

Coincident excitation via different sensory modalities encoding objects of positive salience is known to facilitate learning and memory. With a view to dissect the contribution of visual cues in inducing adaptive neural changes, we monitored the lever press activity of a rat conditioned to self-administer sweet food pellets in the presence/absence...

Exposure of NMDA receptor antagonists during developmental stages leads to behavioral consequences like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the underlying molecular mechanisms have remained poorly understood. Herein, we studied the phosphorylated Akt (pAkt) and caspase-3, the key regulators of neuronal cell survival/death, as...