Graduate Studies Faculty

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Major Areas: Behavioral Pharmacology, Learning and Motivation, Behavioral Genetics, Animal Models of Drug Abuse and Dependence

Summary of Current Research

My laboratory focuses on motivational (rewarding and aversive) effects of abused drugs, with special emphasis on drug-seeking and drug-taking behaviors.  Our studies generally involve behaviors that are established through Pavlovian conditioning or instrumental learning procedures (e.g., conditioned place preference/aversion, drug self-administration). In some studies, our goal is to identify and characterize the physiological, neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and molecular systems that mediate drug reward and aversion, including studies that involve systemic or intracranial administration of pharmacological agents (e.g., receptor agonists or antagonists). For example, in one recent project, infusion of a dopamine receptor antagonist into the amygdala (but not nucleus accumbens) reduced expression of ethanol conditioned place preference, suggesting an important role of dopamine receptors within that brain area in ethanol-conditioned reward. In other studies, we are more directly concerned with increasing our knowledge about current models of drug-seeking behavior and developing better models. We have been especially interested in the somewhat paradoxical finding that ethanol produces both positive and negative motivational effects, depending on the behavioral procedure. In another series of studies, we are developing a new model of intragastric alcohol consumption (IGAC) in mice that are tolerant and dependent.  Recent studies with the IGAC model have shown that passive exposure to ethanol will substantially increase later voluntary self-infusion of ethanol (relative to water exposed controls), even in mouse strains that normally avoid ethanol in drinking procedures.   Finally, several projects focus on genetic influences, with the long-term goal of identifying specific genes that underlie the rewarding and aversive effects of abused drugs. These studies involve various animal genetic models, including selectively bred mouse lines and inbred mouse strains.

Recent Publications

Groblewski, P. A., & Cunningham, C. L. (2012). Repeated microinjections into the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) impair extinction of conditioned place preference in mice. Behavioural Brain Research, 230, 299– 303

Font, L., & Cunningham, C. L. (2012). Post-retrieval propranolol treatment does not modulate reconsolidation or extinction of ethanol-induced conditioned place preference. Pharmacology, Biochemistry & Behavior, 101, 222–230.

Groblewski, P. A., Ryabinin, A. E. & Cunningham, C. L. (2012). Activation and role of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in extinction of ethanol-induced associative learning in mice. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 97, 37-46.

Fidler, T. L., Powers, M. S., Ramirez, J. J., Crane, A. T., Mulgrew, J. A., Smitasin, P. J., & Cunningham, C. L. (2012). Dependence induced increases in Intragastric Alcohol Consumption (IGAC) in mice. Addiction Biology, 17, 13-32.

Abraham, A. D., Cunningham, C. L., & Lattal, K. M. (2012). Methylphenidate enhances extinction of contextual fear. Learning & Memory, 19, 67-72.

Giardino, W. J., Cocking, D. L., Kaur, S., Cunningham, C. L., & Ryabinin, A. E. (2011). Urocortin-1 in the centrally-projecting Edinger-Westphal nucleus is critical for ethanol preference. PLoS ONE, 6.

Shabani, S., McKinnon, C. S., Reed, C., Cunningham, C. L., & Phillips, T. J. (2011). Sensitivity to rewarding or aversive effects of methamphetamine determines methamphetamine intake. Genes, Brain & Behavior, 10, 625-636.

Gremel, C. M., Young, E. A., & Cunningham, C. L. (2011). Blockade of opioid receptors in anterior cingulate cortex disrupts ethanol-seeking behavior in mice. Behavioural Brain Research, 219, 358-362.

Fidler, T. L., Dion, A. M., Powers, M. S., Ramirez, J. J., Mulgrew, J. A., Smitasin, P. J., Crane, A. T., & Cunningham, C. L. (2011). Intragastric self-infusion of ethanol in high and low drinking mouse genotypes after passive ethanol exposure. Genes, Brain & Behavior, 10, 264–275.

Groblewski, P. A., Franken, F. H. & Cunningham, C. L. (2011). IInhibition of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activity with SL327 does not prevent acquisition, expression, and extinction of ethanol-seeking behavior in mice. Behavioural Brain Research, 217, 399-407.

Cunningham, C. L., Groblewski, P. A. & Voorhees, C. M. (2011). Place conditioning. In M. C. Olmstead (Ed.), Animal models of drug addiction (pp. 167-189). Totowa, NJ: Humana Press.

Gremel, C. M. & Cunningham, C. L. (2009). Involvement of amygdala dopamine- and nucleus accumbens NMDA- receptors in ethanol-seeking behavior in mice. Neuropsychopharmacology, 34, 1443-1453.

Gremel, C. M., & Cunningham, C. L. (2008). Roles of the nucleus accumbens and amygdala in the acquisition and expression of ethanol-conditioned behavior in mice. Journal of Neuroscience, 28(5): 1076-1084.

Cunningham, C. L., Gremel, C. M., & Groblewski, P. A. (2006). Drug-induced conditioned place preference and aversion in mice. Nature Protocols, 1, 1662-1670.

Education

• A.B. (1971) University of Notre Dame
• M.A. (1973) University of Iowa
• Ph.D. (1976) University of Oregon Medical School
• Postdoctoral (1975-76) Yale University

Previous Positions

• Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, School of Medicine, OHSU
• Interim Chair, Behavioral Neuroscience, OHSU
• Vice-Chair, Medical Psychology, OHSU
• Assistant/Associate/Professor, Medical Psychology, OHSU
• Visiting Assistant Professor, Psychology, Indiana University
• NIMH Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Yale University