OHSU

Stephen L. Boehm II

Ph.D. Graduate (2002)

boehm_scaledCurrent Position

Associate Professor
Psychobiology of Addictions
Department of Psychology
Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis

Email:

slboehm@iupui.edu

Education and Training

Post-Ph.D., Behavioral and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Texas at Austin, 2002-2005. Advisor: Dr. R. Adron Harris.

Ph.D., Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, 1996-2002. Advisor: Dr. Tamara J. Phillips.

B. A., Psychology, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, 1990-1996. Advisor: Dr. David M. Gilliam.

Research Description

Work in my lab seeks to understand how developmental and genetic factors influence loss of control over alcohol intake, or binge drinking. Alcohol-related behaviors thought to influence propensity to engage in binge-like alcohol drinking in mice are studied. We use mice of different developmental and genetic backgrounds to ask mechanistic questions about the complex relationships between brain and behavior. For example, we compare different genetic mouse models to assess age-specific sensitivity to alcohol's behavioral actions and determine how alcohol exposure during prenatal and early postnatal development influences that of adulthood. Moreover, we employ state-of-the-art techniques to study the relationships between brain and behavioral sensitivity to alcohol in mice, including site-specific microinjection into discrete brain regions and real-time PCR analysis of relative mRNA expression across brain structures to determine which neurotransmitter systems and brain structures are important modulators of alcohol-related behavior. Our hope is that such work will help elucidate the behavioral/brain mechanisms associated with alcohol behavioral sensitivity in humans and provide further insight into how those mechanisms influence (and are influenced by) binge alcohol drinking across development. Our work is supported by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism - West.

Publications

  1. Boehm II SL, Lundahl KR, Caldwell J, Gilliam DM (1997) Ethanol teratogenesis in the C57BL/J, DBA/2J, and A/J inbred mouse strains. Alcohol, 4:389-395.
  2. Boehm II SL, Schafer GL, Phillips TJ, Browman KE, Crabbe, JC (2000) Sensitivity to ethanol-induced motor incoordination in 5-HT1B receptor null mutant mice is task dependent: Implications for behavioral assessment of genetically altered mice. Behavioral Neuroscience, 114:401-409.
  3. Boehm II SL, Crabbe JC, Phillips TJ (2000) Sensitivity to ethanol-induced motor incoordination in FAST and SLOW selectively bred mice. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, 66:241-247.
  4. Rustay N, Boehm II SL, Schafer GL, Browman KE, Erwin VG, Crabbe JC (2001) Sensitivity and tolerance to ethanol-induced incoordination and hypothermia in HAFT and LAFT mice. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, 70:167-174.
  5. Boehm II SL, Reed CL, McKinnon CS, Phillips TJ (2002) Shared genes influence sensitivity to the effects of ethanol on locomotor behavior and anxiety-like behaviors, and the stress axis. Psychopharmacology, 161:54-63.
  6. Boehm II SL, Piercy MM, Bergstrom HC, Phillips TJ (2002) Ventral tegmental area region governs GABAB receptor modulation of ethanol-stimulated activity in mice. Neuroscience, 115:185-200.
  7. Wahlsten D, Metten P, Phillips TJ, Boehm II SL, Burkhart-Kasch S, Dorow J, Doerksen S, Downing C, Fogarty J, Rodd-Henricks K, Hen R, McKinnon CS, Merrill CM, Nolte C, Schalomon M, Schlumbohm JR, Sibert JR, Wenger CD, Dudek BC, Crabbe JC (2003) Different data from different labs: Lessons from studies of gene-environment interaction. Journal of Neurobiology, 54:283-311.
  8. Boehm II SL, Peden L, Chang R, Harris RA, Blednov YA (2003) Deletion of the fyn-kinase gene alters behavioral sensitivity to alcohol.  Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 27:1033-1040.
  9. Boehm II SL, Peden L, Harris RA, Blednov YA (2004) Deletion of the fyn-kinase gene alters sensitivity to GABAergic drugs: dependence on beta2/beta3 GABAA receptor subunits. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 309:1154-1159.
  10. Diaz LM, Maiya R, Han Y, Scott H, Boehm II SL, Bergeson SE, Mayfield RD, Morrisett RA (2004) Sindbis viral-mediated expression of eGFP-dopamine D1 receptors in situ. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 139:25-31.
  11. Boehm II SL, Ponomarev I, Jennings AW, Whiting PJ, Rosahl TW, Garrett EM, Blednov YA, Harris RA (2004) γ-Aminobutyric acid A receptor subunit mutant mice: new perspectives on alcohol action. Biochemical Pharmacology, 68:1581-1602.
  12. Boehm II SL, Peden L, Jennings AW, Kojima N, Harris RA, Blednov YA (2004) Over-expression of the fyn-kinase gene reduces hypnotic sensitivity to ethanol. Neuroscience Letters, 372:6-11.
  13. Ponomarev I, Maiya R, Harnett MT, Schafer GL, Ryabinin AE, Blednov YA, Morikawa H, Boehm II SL, Homanics GE, Berman A, Lodowski KH, Bergeson SE, Harris RA (2006) Transcriptional signatures of cellular plasticity in mice lacking the α1 subunit of GABAA receptors. Journal of Neuroscience, 26:5673-5683. PMCID: PMC1894896
  14. Boehm II SL, Homanics GE, Blednov YA, Harris RA (2006) δ-Subunit Containing GABAA Receptor Knockout Mice are Less Sensitive to the Actions of THIP. European Journal of Pharmacology, 541:158-162.
  15. Borghese CM, Elsen FP, Werner DF, Topf N, Baron NV, Henderson LA, Boehm II SL, Saad A, Dai S, Pearce RA, Harris RA, Homanics GE, Harrison NL (2006) Characterization of an isoflurane insensitive mutant GABAA receptor α1 subunit with near normal affinity for GABA in heterologous systems and knock-in mice. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 319:208-218.
  16. Boehm II SL, Ponomarev I, Blednov YA, Harris Ra (2006) From gene to behavior and back again: New perspectives on GABAA receptor subunit selectivity of alcohol actions. Advances in Pharmacology, 54:171-203. 
  17. Blednov YA, Cravatt BF, Boehm II SL, Walker D, Harris RA (2007) Role of endocannabinoids in alcohol consumption and intoxication: Studies of mice lacking fatty acid amide hydrolase. Neuropsychopharmacology, 32:1570-1582.
  18. Moore EM, Serio KM, Goldfarb KJ, Stepanovska S, Linsenbardt DN, Boehm II SL (2007) GABAergic modulation of binge-like ethanol intake in C57BL/6J mice. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 88:105-113. PMCID: PMC2394855
  19. Pautassi RM, Nizhnikov M, Molina JC, Boehm II SL, Spear N (2007) Ethanol’s devaluation of aversive stimuli not mimicked by midazolam. Alcohol, 41:421-431. PMCID: PMC2478748
  20. Boehm II SL, Goldfarb KJ, Serio KM, Moore, EM, Linsenbardt DN (2008) Does context influence the duration of locomotor sensitization to ethanol in female DBA/2J mice? Psychopharmacology, 197:191-201. PMCID: PMC2279101
  21. Mulligan MK, Ponomarev I, Boehm II SL, Owen JA, Levin PS, Berman AE, Blednov YA, Crabbe JC, Williams RW, Miles MF, Bergeson SE (2008) Alcohol trait and transcriptional genomic analysis of C57BL/6 substrains. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 7:677-689.
  22. Boehm II SL, Moore EM, Walsh CD, Gross C, Cavelli A, Gigante E, Linsenbardt DN (2008) Using Drinking in the Dark to  model prenatal binge-like exposure to ethanol in C57BL/6J mice. Developmental Psychobiology, 50:566-578. PMCID: PMC2574727
  23. Linsenbardt DN, Moore EM Gross CD, Goldfarb KJ, Blackman LC, Boehm II SL (2009) Sensitivity and tolerance to the hypnotic and ataxic effects of ethanol in adolescent and adult C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 33:1-13. PMCID: PMC2736547
  24. Moore EM, Boehm II SL (2009) Site-specific microinjection of baclofen into the anterior ventral tegmental area reduces ethanol intake in male C57BL/6J mice. Behavioral Neuroscience, 123:555-563. PMCID: PMC2732108
  25. Linsenbardt DN, Boehm II SL (2009) Agonism of the endocannabinoid system modulates binge-like alcohol intake in male C57BL/6J mice: Involvement of the posterior ventral tegmental area. Neuroscience, 164:424-434. PMCID: PMC2762022
  26. Moore EM, Mariani J, Linsenbardt DN, Melón LC, Boehm II SL (2010) Adolescent C57BL/6J (but not DBA/2J) mice consume greater amounts of limited-access ethanol compared to adults and display continued elevated ethanol intake into adulthood. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 34:1-9. PMCID: PMC20102570
  27. Linsenbardt DN, Boehm II SL (2010) Ethanol-induced locomotor sensitization in DBA/2J mice is associated with alterations in GABAA subunit gene expression and behavioral sensitivity to GABAA acting drugs. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, 95:359-366. PMCID: PMC20219525
  28. Moore EM, Linsenbardt DN, Melón LC, Boehm II SL (2010) Ontogenetic differences in adolescent and adult C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice: Anxiety-like, locomotor, and consummatory behaviors. Developmental Psychobiology, 53:141-56. PMCID: PMC20886536
  29. Melón LC, Boehm II SL (2011) GABAA receptors in the posterior, but not anterior, ventral tegmental area mediate Ro15-4513 attenuation of binge-like ethanol consumption in C57BL/6J female mice. Behavioural Brain Research, 220:230-237. PMCID: PMC21320533
  30. Linsenbardt DN, Moore EM, Griffin KD, Gigante E, Boehm II SL (2011) Tolerance to ethanol’s ataxic and locomotor effects following repeated binge-like ethanol intake using the DID model. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 35:1246-55. PMCID: PMC21410484
  31. Melón LC, Boehm II SL (2011) Development of locomotor sensitization to ethanol in adult and adolescent mice: Comparison of the DBA/2J and C57BL/6J inbred mouse strains. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 35:1351-60. PMCID: PMC21410489
  32. Linsenbardt DN, Boehm II SL (2011) Role of novelty and ethanol history in locomotor stimulation induced by binge-like ethanol intake. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, in press. PMC Journal – In Process
  33. Kruse LC, Linsenbardt DN, Boehm II SL (2011) Positive allosteric modulation of the GABAB receptor attenuates the locomotor stimulant actions of ethanol and alters the induction of locomotor sensitization. Alcohol, in press.
  34. Fritz BM, Grahame NJ, Boehm II SL (2012) Acute functional tolerance to ethanol in mice selectively bred for high and low alcohol preference drinking. Genes, Brain and Behavior, submitted.
  35. Linsenbardt DN, Boehm II SL (2012) Alterations in the Rate of (Binge) Ethanol Consumption: Implications for Preclinical Studies in Mice. Addiction Biology, submitted.
  36. Moore EM, Boehm II SL (2011) Adolescent alcohol use and sensitivity: A developmental perspective on the genetics of alcohol use and abuse disorders. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, submitted.

Book Chapters and Reviews

  1. Boehm II SL, Valenzuela CF, Harris RA Alcohol: Neurobiology. In Substance Abuse: A comprehensive textbook, Fourth Edition, Lowinson, Ruiz, Millman, and Langrod Eds. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore MD, 2005:121-151.

Date last updated:  May 24, 2012