Graduate Studies Faculty

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Major Areas: Behavioral Pharmacology, Learning and Motivation, Behavioral Genetics

Summary of Current Research

Research in this lab is generally concerned with motivational effects of abused drugs, with special emphasis on mechanisms of drug-seeking behavior. Favorite behavioral procedures include: place conditioning (preference and aversion), taste conditioning, operant self-administration, and home cage drinking. In some projects, studies are designed to identify and characterize the physiological, neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and molecular systems that mediate drug reward and aversion. Some of these studies involve systemic or intracranial administration of the pharmacological agents (e.g., receptor agonists/antagonists). For example, in a recent project, infusion of a D1-D2-D3 antagonist into the amygdala reduced expression of ethanol conditioned place preference, suggesting an important role of dopamine receptors within that brain area in ethanol conditioned reward. The lab is also engaged in projects that examine the roles played by environment, experience, and learning. For example, some studies address the role of Pavlovian conditioning, instrumental learning, and other processes on development of drug tolerance and sensitization, and the relationship between tolerance/sensitization and drug reward/aversion. Other studies are more directly concerned with increasing our knowledge about current models of drug-seeking behavior and developing better models. In one series of studies, for example, we are exploring the paradoxical findings that alcohol appears to produce both positive and negative motivational effects, depending on the behavioral procedure. In another series of studies, we are developing new models of intragastric self-administration in rats and mice that are alcohol dependent. 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, recombinant inbred strains, congenic strains, and knockout/transgenic strains.

Recent Publications

Groblewski, P. A., Lattal, K. M. & Cunningham, C. L. (2009). Effects of D-Cycloserine on the extinction and reconditioning of ethanol-seeking behavior in mice. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 33:772-782.

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.

Groblewski, P. A., Bax, L. S. & Cunningham, C. L. (2008). Reference-dose place conditioning with ethanol in mice: Empirical and theoretical analysis. Psychopharmacology, 201:97-106.

Cunningham, C. L., Gremel, C. M., & Groblewski, P. A. (2008). Genetic influences on conditioned taste aversion. In S. Reilly & T. R. Schachtman (Eds.), Conditioned taste aversion: Behavioral and neural processes (pp. 387-421). New York: Oxford University Press.

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, 28:1076-1084.

Hill, K. G., Ryabinin, A. E. & Cunningham, C. L. (2007). FOS expression induced by an ethanol-paired conditioned stimulus. Pharmacology, Biochemistry & Behavior, 87:208-221.

Cunningham, C. L., & Patel, P. (2007). Rapid induction of Pavlovian approach to an ethanol-paired visual cue in mice. Psychopharmacology, 192:231-241.

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

Cunningham, C. L., Patel, P., & Milner, L. (2006). Spatial location is critical for conditioning place preference with visual but not tactile stimuli. Behavioral Neuroscience, 120:1115-1132.

Fidler, T. L., Clews, T. W., & Cunningham, C. L. (2006). Re-establishing an intragastric ethanol self-infusion model in rats. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 30:414-428.

Bechtholt, A. J., & Cunningham, C. L. (2005) Ethanol-induced conditioned place preference is expressed through a ventral tegmental area dependent mechanism. Behavioral Neuroscience, 119:213-223.

Education

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