Our laboratory's main areas of interest are geared towards better
understanding the mechanisms of addiction, including: alcohol,
drug abuse and obesity. Understanding these mechanisms will help
us develop better therapeutic tools for addictive disorders that
amount to billions of dollars per year in health costs
and lost productivity. Based on previous findings at BNL, we focused
on the role of the dopamine D2 family of receptors (D2, D3 and
D4) in alcohol abuse, by training animals to drink alcohol. Once
the animals were trained and displayed a clear preference for
ethanol versus water, a viral vector carrying the D2cDNA was strereotaxically
microinfused into the brain. This resulted in a significant decrease
in alcohol intake to half the initial levels (Thanos et al. 2001).
These findings provided evidence that overexpression of D2 receptors
reduced alcohol intake, and suggested that high levels of D2 receptors
may be protective against alcohol abuse (Thanos et al., 2001).
These results were recently supported in Inbred strains of alcohol
preferring (P) rats (Thanos et al. 2004) and in D2R transgenic
mice (Thanos et al 2004b). Current research is utilizing various
techniques (microPET brain imaging, autoradiography, immunohistochemistry,
gene transfer vectors, microdialysis, microMRI and microCT and
transgenic mouse models) to better study the neurochemistry, genetics
and behavioral aspects of addiction. Ongoing studies will help
further elucidate the complex role of the D2 family of receptors
in alcoholism, drug abuse and obesity.