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In our extinction studies, animals are repeatedly exposed to cocaine for
several days and then are taken through a process of extinction training, a
phase during which the drug is no longer available to the animal. The animal
stops seeking the drug until stimuli such as stress, the drug itself, or
simply a reminder of the drug causes the animal to once again seek out
cocaine, a phenomenon similar to relapse in humans. Extinction training
produces an extinction memory that masks the original cocaine memory but is
forgotten during relapse. Thus, we are trying to understand how to prevent
the forgetting of extinction in an effort to suppress relapse behavior.
In our reconsolidation studies, we attempt to diminish cocaine memories by
manipulating the process of reconsolidation, wherein prior memories can be
recalled and subsequently disrupted with appropriate pharmacological agents
so that only the recalled memory is diminished. We test specific
pharmacological agents to disrupt reconsolidation of the memories associated
with cocaine, thereby suppressing drug-seeking behavior and relapse.
Other studies focus on using these same models of drug addiction, exploring
the underlying role of circadian rhythms in relapse.
An additional project uses the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, to
explore how methamphetamine exposure alters basic learning and memory
processes. In these animals, we use behavior and electrophysiology to assess
these processes.
Biographical Information
Barbara A. Sorg, Professor, received her B.S. in biology in 1981 from Ball State University. In
1987, she earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Maryland.
Dr. Sorg has been in the Department of Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy,
Pharmacology and Physiology at Washington State University since 1990. Dr.
Sorg is also the Interim Director of the WSU Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program.
Recent Publications
Brown TE, Forquer
MR, Cocking DL, Jansen HT, Harding JW, Sorg BA. (2007).
Role of matrix metalloproteinases in the acquisition and reconsolidation of
cocaine-induced conditioned place preference. Learn. Mem.
9:214-223.
Sleipness EP, Sorg BA, Jansen HT. (2007). Contribution of
the suprachiasmatic nucleus to day:night variation in cocaine-seeking
behavior. Physiol. Behav.15:523-530.
Sleipness EP, Sorg BA, Jansen HT. (2007). Diurnal
differences in dopamine transporter and tyrosine hydroxylase levels in rat
brain: dependence on the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Brain Res.
19:34-42.
Carter K, Lukowiak K, Schenk JO, Sorg BA. (2006). Repeated
cocaine effects on learning, memory and extinction in the pond snail Lymnaea
stagnalis. J. Exp. Biol. 209:4273-4282.
Cloutier S, Forquer MR, Sorg BA. (2006). Low level lindane
exposure alters extinction of conditioned fear in rats. Toxicology
16:147-154.
Sleipness EP, Sorg BA, Jansen HT. (2005). Time of day
alters long-term sensitization to cocaine in rats. Brain Res.
14:132-137.
Sorg BA, Li N, Wu W, Bailie TM. (2004). Activation of
dopamine D1 receptors in the medial prefrontal cortex produces bidirectional
effects on cocaine-induced locomotor activity in rats: effects of repeated
stress. Neuroscience 127:187-196.
Sorg BA, Swindell S, Tschirgi ML. (2004). Repeated low
level formaldehyde exposure produces enhanced fear conditioning to odor in
male, but not female, rats. Brain Res. 15:11-19.
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