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Barbara
A. Sorg, Ph.D.
Professor
Director, WSU Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program
E-Mail:
barbsorg@vetmed.wsu.edu
Phone: (509)
335-4709
I am examining the interactive effects of stress and drugs of abuse on
brain dopamine systems. Repeated exposure to stress, cocaine and other
drugs of abuse results in increased sensitivity over time. In humans,
this sensitization is manifest as psychotic behaviors such as panic
disorder and paranoid schizophrenia, and in animals there is an
increase in behavioral responsiveness to subsequent stimuli.
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The goal of my research is to examine
the brain areas involved in this sensitization process in animals. These
include primarily pharmacological and behavioral approaches. I am interested
in detecting cocaine- and stress-induced changes in dopamine function. A
second area of study is examination of sensitization produced by exposure to
environmental chemicals. A goal of this line of research is to design an
animal model for chemical sensitivity in humans.
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.
Selected Publications
Prasad, B.M., T.
Hochstatter and B.A. Sorg (1999). Expression of cocaine sensitization:
regulation by the medial prefrontal cortex. Neuroscience 88: 765-774.
Sorg, BA, and T
Hochstatter. (1999). Behavioral sensitization after repeated formaldehyde
exposure in rats. Toxicol. Indust. Health 15:346-55.
Sorg, B.A. (1999). Multiple chemical sensitivity: potential role for
neural sensitization. Crit. Rev. Neurobiol. 13:283-316 (invited review).
Wayment, H.K., J.O. Schenk, and B.A. Sorg. (2001). Characterization of
extracellular dopamine clearance in the medial prefrontal cortex: role of
monoamine uptake and monoamine oxidase inhibition. J. Neurosci. 21:35-44
Sorg, BA, N. Li and W.-R. Wu. (2001). Dopamine D1 receptor activation
in the medial prefrontal cortex prevents the expression of cocaine
sensitization. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 297: 501-508..
Sorg, B.A., T.M.
Bailie, M.L. Tschirgi, N.Li and W.-R. Wu. (2001). Exposure to repeated
low-level formaldehyde in rats increases basal corticosterone levels and
enhances the corticosterone response to subsequent formaldehyde. Brain Res.
898: 314-320.
Sanchez, C.J., and B.A. Sorg. 2001. Conditioned fear stimuli reinstate
cocaine-induced conditioned place preference. Brain Res. 908: 86-92.
Sorg, B.A., and D.B. Newlin. 2002. Sensitization as a mechanism for
multiple chemical sensitivity: relationship to evolutionary game theory.
Scand. J. Psychol. 43: 161-167.
Wu, W.-R., N. Li, and B.A. Sorg. 2002. Regulation of medial prefrontal
cortex dopamine response to acute and repeated cocaine: effect of
alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionate/kainate receptors.
Neuroscience 114: 507-516.
Sorg, B.A., D.L. Davidson, T. Hochstatter, and P.W. Sylvester. 2002.
Repeated cocaine decreases the avoidance response to a novel aversive
stimulus. Psychopharmacology 163: 9-19.
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