About Us > Faculty & Staff - Department of Behavioral Neuroscience

Kathleen Grant

Professor, Behavioral Neuroscience
Senior Scientist, Oregon National Primate Research Center
e-mail: grantka@ohsu.edu

Major Areas: Behavioral Pharmacology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Physiological Psychology, Alcohol Addiction

Previous Positions
Staff Fellow (1987-1989), Senior Staff Fellow (1989-1991), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD
Assistant Professor (1991-1993), Associate Professor (1993-1998), Professor (1998-2005), Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC

Education
University of Santa Clara, Santa Clara, California, B.S. Combined Sciences
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, Ph.D., Psychology
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Postdoctoral Training, Psychiatry

Research Interests
I study the behavioral pharmacology of alcohol abuse and alcoholism using a variety of animal models. To understand the pharmacology of ethanol that produces subjective effects associated with intoxication I use drug discrimination procedures. With this approach I can study the neurotransmitter receptor mechanisms that mediate how alcohol produces feelings of intoxication. To date, we have identified major excitatory (glutamate) and inhibitory (gamma amino butyric acid) receptor systems as well as modulatory (serotonin) receptor systems involved in mediating the intoxicated state. We have characterized to co-occurrence of activity in multiple receptor systems as contributing to the alcohol "cue". We have also shown that endogenous steroids that are metabolites of progesterone or corticosterone can also produce subject effects of alcohol intoxication, the degree to which these influence the behavioral effects of ethanol depends upon the individual's genetic composition, sex, menstrual cycle stage, and drinking history.

To study the pharmacology of ethanol that establishes and maintains addictive drinking, I use self-administration procedures. With this approach I focus on understanding the risk for and consequences of abusive ethanol consumption. Risk factors including genetic background, stress, sex, and age are considered. Consequences of heaving drinking are also studied, including changes in sleep and overall circadian rhythm, changes in the menstrual cycle, liver damage, and brain damage. To assess the effects of excessive drinking of brain, liver, and endocrine function I use genomic approaches to identify gene mechanisms, in vivo imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and changes in the physiological response to stress.

Selected Recent Publications

Vivian JA, Green HL, Young JE, Majersky LJ, Thomas BW, Shively CA, Nader MA, Grant KA (2001) Induction and maintenance of ethanol self-administration in cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis): Long-term characterization of sex and trait-like differences. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 25:1087-1097.

Walker SJ, Grant KA, Vrana KE (2001) Examination of a CYP2E1 repeat polymorphism in a monkey-model of alcohol abuse. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 25:1114-1118.

Engel S, Purdy R, Grant KA (2001) Characterization of the discriminative stimulus effects of the neuroactive steroid, pregnanolone. J Pharamacol Exper Therap 297:489-495.

Shelton KL, Grant KA (2001) Effects of Naltrexone and Ro 15-4513 on a multiple schedule of ethanol and tang self-administration. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 25:1576-1585.

Cibelli J, Vrana K, Chapman K, Cunniff K, Worst T, Green H, Walker S, Gutlin P, Vilner L, Viviane T, Clarkson T, Dominko T, Kane J, Wettstein P, Studer L, West M, Grant K (2002) Primate parthenogenically-derived stem cells. Science 295:819.

Morgan D, Grant K, Gage D, Mach R, Kaplan J, Prioleau O, Nader S, Buchheimer N, Ehrenkaufer R, Nader M (2002) Social dominance in monkeys: Dopamine D2 receptors and cocaine self-administration. Nature Neuroscience 5:169-174.

Vivan JA, Waters CA, Szeliga KT, Jordan K, Grant KA (2002) Characterization of the discriminative stimulus effects of N-methyl-Daspartate ligands under different ethanol training conditions in the cynomolgus monkey. Psychopharmacology 162:273-281.

Quertemont E, Grant K (2002) Role of acetaldehyde in the discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 26(6):812-817.

Shelton KL, Grant KA (2002) Discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol in C57BL/63 and DBA/23 inbred mice. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 26:747-757.

Shively CA, Grant KA, Register TC (2002) Long-term moderate alcohol consumption has chronic effects on agonistic and affiliative interactions in small social groups in primates. Psychopharmacology 165:1-8.

Davenport AT, Lees CJ, Green HL, Grant KA (2003) Long-acting depot formulation of luprolide acetate as a method of hypothalamic down regulation for controlled ovarian hyperstimulation and oocyte production in Macaca fascicularis. Biol Reprod 68:2661-2266.

Quertemont E, Green H, Grant K (2003) Brain ethanol concentrations and ethanol discrimination: Effects of dose and time. Psychopharmacology 168:262-270.

Vrana KE, Hipp JD, Goss AM, McCool BA, Riddle D, Walker SJ, Wettstein P, Studer L, Tabar V, Cunniff K, Chapman K, Vilner L, West MD, Grant KA, Cibelli JB (2003) Non-human primate parthenogenetic stem cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci 100:11911-11916.

Grant KA, Bennett AJ (2003) Advances in nonhuman primate alcohol abuse and alcoholism research. Pharmacol Ther 100:235-255.

Ivester P, Shively CA, Register TC, Grant KA, Cunningham C (2003) The effects of moderate alcohol consumption on the liver of the monkey, macaca fascicularis. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 27(11):1831-1837.

Budygin EA, John CE, Mateo Y, Lapa GB, Daunais JB, Friedman DP, Grant KA, Jones SR (2003) Chronic ethanol exposure alters presynaptic dopamine function in the striatum on monkeys: A preliminary study. Synapse 50(3):266-268.

Ariwodola OJ, Crowder TL, Grant KA, Daunais JB, Friedman DP, Weiner JL (2003) Ethanol modulation of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission in rat and monkey dentate granule neurons. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 27(10):1632-1639.

Shannon EE, Shelton KL, Vivian JA, Yount I, Morgan AR, Homanics GE, Grant KA (2004) Discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol in mice lacking the γ-Aminobutyric acid type A receptor δ subunit. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 28(6):906-913.

Quertemont E, Grant K (2004) Discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol: Lack of interaction with taurine. Behavioral Pharm Nov;15(7):495-501.

Porcu P, Grant K (2004) Discriminative stimulus effects of ethanol in rats using a three-choice Ethanol, Midazolam, Water Discrimination. Behavioral Pharm 15:555-567.

Floyd DW, Friedman DP, Daunais JP, Pierre PJ, Grant KA, McCool BA (2004) Long-term ethanol self-administration by cynomolgus macaques alters the pharmacology and expression of GABA(A) receptors expressed in basolateral amygdala. J Pharmacol Exp Therap 311:1071-1079.

Quertemont E, Grant K (2005) The role of acetaldehyde in the central effects of ethanol. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 29(2):221-234.

Sullivan EV, Sable HJ, Strother WN, Friedman DP, Davenport A, Smith HT, Kraft RA, Wyatt C, Szeliga KT, Buchheimer NC, Daunias JB, Adalsteinsson E, Pfefferbaum A, Grant KA (2005) Neuroimaging of rodent and primate models of alcoholism: Initial reports from the Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 29(2):287-294

Shannon E, Porcu P, Purdy R, Grant K (2005) Characterization of the discriminative stimulus effects of the neuroactive steroid pregnanolone in DBA/2J inbred mice. J Pharmacol Exp Ther Aug 314(2):675-85.

Budygin EA, John CE, Mateo Y, Lapa GB, Daunais JB, Friedman DP, Grant KA, Jones SR (in press) Effects of chronic alcohol exposure on striatal dopamine release and uptake: A vitro voltammetry study in non-human primates. J Neurosci Methods

Friedman DP, Davenport A, Daunais JB, Tillman, H, Grant KA (in press) Alcohol effects on GABA(A) receptors in a monkey model of chronic ethanol self-administration. Alcohol Clin Exp Res

Porcu P, Morrow AL, Grant KA (2005) Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and ethanol modulation of deoxycorticosterone levels in cynomolgus monkeys. Psychopharm.

Walker SJ, Wang Y, Grant KA, Chan F, Hellmann GM (2005) Long versus short oligonucleotide arrays for the study of gene expression in nonhuman primates. J Neurosci Methods Oct 24.

Walker SJ, Grant KA . Peripheral blood alpha-synuclein mRNA levels are elevated in cynomolgus monkeys that chronically self-administer ethanol. Alcohol. 2006 Jan;38(1):1-4.

Anderson NJ, Daunais JB, Friedman DP, Grant KA , McCool BA. Long-term ethanol self-administration by the nonhuman primate, Macaca fascicularis, decreases the benzodiazepine sensitivity of amygdala GABA(A) receptors. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2007 Jun;31(6):1061-70.

Shively CA , Mietus JE, Grant KA , Goldberger AL , Bennett AJ, Willard SL. Effects of chronic moderate alcohol consumption and novel environment on heart rate variability in primates (Macaca fascicularis). Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2007 Jun;192(2):183-91.

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Last Updated: November 19, 2007