Biological Division

Dr. Gulley's laboratory is focused on the neurobiology of drug and alcohol addiction, with an emphasis on behavioral and physiological analyses of brain reward pathways in animal models of drug taking and repeated drug exposure. We are currently addressing three main questions: (1) What are the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie individual differences in the behavioral response to drugs of abuse? (2) What are the behavioral and neurobiological adaptations that result from repeated exposure to psychostimulant drugs? (3) Does exposure to drugs during adolescence produce changes in neurobiology that persist into adulthood and influence behavioral responses to these drugs?

In our experiments, we use behavioral and physiological methods of analysis, both alone and in combination. For behavior, we study drug responses using operant self-administration, conditioned place preference, drug discrimination, and behavioral sensitization techniques. We also use operant food-reinforced responding to assess cognitive behaviors, including impulsive choice and working memory. Our primary physiological measure is multiple neuron electrophysiology, which allows us to record the activity of a large number of brain cells as animals are actively behaving.

Representative Publications:

• Hall DA, Powers JP, Gulley JM (2009). Blockade of D1 dopamine receptors in the medial prefrontal cortex attenuates amphetamine- and methamphetamine-induced locomotor activity in the rat. Brain Research. Epub 2009 Sep 2 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2009.08.084)
• Klein DA, Gulley JM (2009). Reduced sensitivity to the locomotor-stimulant effects of cocaine is associated with increased sensitivity to its discriminative stimulus properties. Behavioural Pharmacology, 20:67-77. Epub 2009 Jan 2 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/FBP.0b013e3283242fdd)
• Hall DA, Stanis JJ, Avila HM, Gulley JM (2008). A comparison of amphetamine- and methamphetamine-induced locomotor activity in rats: evidence for qualitative differences in behavior. Psychopharmacology, 195:469-78. Epub 2007 Sep 17. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-007-0923-8).
• Stanis JJ, Marquez Avila H, White MD, Gulley JM (2008). Dissociation between long-lasting behavioral sensitization to amphetamine and impulsive choice in rats performing a delay-discounting task. Psychopharmacology, 199:539-548. Epub 2008 May 13. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-008-1182-z).
• Stanis JJ, Burns RM, Sherrill LK, Gulley JM (2008). Disparate cocaine-induced locomotion as a predictor of choice behavior in rats trained in a delay-discounting task. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 98:54-62. Epub 2008 June 6. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2008.04.009)

Classes Recently Taught:

• PSYC 210: The Brain and the Mind
• PSYC 413: Psychopharmacology