Andrey E. Ryabinin, Ph.D.
Position
Professor, Behavioral Neuroscience
Contact
ryabinin@ohsu.edu; Phone: 503-494-2060; Fax: 503-494-6877; Office: MRB 731a; Mail Code: L-470
Research Interests
Alcoholism, stress, drug addiction, neuropeptides, social neuroscience
Preceptor Rotation Availability
Dr. Ryabinin might be available for preceptor rotations. Please contact him directly to inquire.
Mentorship Availability
Dr. Ryabinin might be available for mentorship. Please contact him directly to inquire.
Summary of Current Research
Research in my laboratory is broadly directed at genetic and social factors contributing to alcohol abuse, drug addiction and other mental disorders. This direction can be divided into two related topics. First, we are investigating the roles of stress peptides in alcohol abuse and drug addiction. Second, we are developing novel animal models to study the interactions between social factors, stress, alcohol abuse and drug addiction.
Stress peptides in alcohol abuse and drug addiction.
Stress can profoundly change many aspects of behavior and physiology in humans and other animals. This change is thought to be mediated by the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) system. This system consists of CRF and related peptides urocortin 1, urocortin 2 and urocortin 3. These peptides are distributed in the brain in a partially overlapping manner and have differential affinities for CRF1 and CRF2 receptors and the CRF binding protein. Our research using genetic, molecular and physiological approaches has shown that different components of this system contribute to various aspects of alcohol and drug abuse. For example urocortin 1-expressing neurons of the centrally-projecting Edinger-Westphal nucleus regulate alcohol consumption in non-dependent animals. This regulation likely involves the ghrelin receptor expressed at very high levels in this brain area. On the other hand, our studies in knockout mice indicate that peptides preferentially acting on the CRF2 receptors (such as urocortin 2 and urocortin 3) contribute to the sensitivity to the highly-addictive psychostimulant methamphetamine. This effect engages neurons located in the basolateral amygdala. We are continuing this line of research with the hope of developing novel therapeutic approaches for alcohol and drug addiction and other stress-related disorders.
Social neurobiology, stress and alcohol abuse While stress has long been considered a non-specific reaction of an organism to external threat, it has become clear that social stress is a qualitatively different process than other types of stress. While it is important to develop approaches to counteract the negative effects of social influences (and help promote positive social influences), it has been extremely difficult to model them in traditional laboratory rodents. My laboratory has adapted prairie vole model to study these influences. Prairie voles are unusual rodents because they are capable of forming long-term bonds between individual animals in contrast to majority of other mammals. Using this species we have shown that individual animals within a pair influence each other's behavior. Specifically, they can modulate each other's intake of alcohol and therefore can be used to model social influences on alcohol abuse. This model is highly promising not only for understanding social aspects of alcohol abuse, but also for understanding why many current therapies fail to help patients recovering from alcohol addiction.
Recent Publications
Giardino WJ, Pastor R, Anacker AMJ, Spangler E, Cote DM, Li J, Stenzel-Poore M, Phillips TJ, Ryabinin AE (2010) Dissection of corticotropin-releasing factor system involvement in locomotor sensitivity to methamphetamine, Genes, Brain and Behavior, in press.
Anacker AMJ, Loftis JM, Kaur S, Ryabinin AE (2010) Prairie voles as a novel model of socially-facilitated excessive drinking, Addiction Biology, in press. Kaur S and Ryabinin AE (2010) Ghrelin receptor antagonism decreases alcohol consumption and activation of perioculomotor urocortin-containing neurons, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 34: 1525-1534.
Anacker AMJ and Ryabinin AE (2010) Biological contribution to social influences on alcohol drinking: evidence from animal models. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 7: 473-493.
Cservenka A, Spangler E, Cote DM, Ryabinin AE (2010) Postnatal developmental profile of urocortin 1 and cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript in the perioculomotor region of C57BL/6J mice, Brain Research: 1319: 33-43.
Spangler E, Cote DM, Anacker A, Mark GP. Ryabinin AE. (2009) Differential sensitivity of perioculomotor urocortin-containing neurons to psychostimulants, ethanol and stress in mice and rats, Neuroscience, 160: 115-125.
Fonareva I, Spangler E, Cannella, N, Sabino V, Cottone P, Ciccocioppo R, Zorrilla EP, Ryabinin AE (2009) Increased Perioculomotor Urocortin 1 immunoreactivity in genetically selected alcohol preferring rats, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 33: 1956-1965.
May PJ, Reiner AJ, Ryabinin AE. (2008) Comparison of the distributions of urocortin-containing and cholinergic neurons in the perioculomotor midbrain of the cat and macaque. J Comp Neurol 507: 1300-1316.
Ryabinin AE, Yoneyama N, Tanchuck MA, Mark GP, Finn DA. (2008) Urocortin 1 microinjection into the mouse lateral septum regulates the acquisition and expression of alcohol consumption. Neuroscience. 151: 780-90.
Turek VF, Bennett B, Ryabinin AE. (2008) Differences in the urocortin 1 system between long-sleep and short-sleep mice. Genes Brain Behav. 7: 113-9.
Lim MM, Liu Y, Ryabinin AE, Bai Y, Wang Z, Young LJ. (2007) CRF receptors in the nucleus accumbens modulate partner preference in prairie voles. Horm Behav. 51: 508-515.
Ryabinin, A.E., Weitemier, A.Z. (2006) The Urocortin 1 neurocircuit: Ethanol sensitivity and potential involvement in alcohol consumption. Brain Research Reviews, 52: 368-380
Weitemier, A.Z., Ryabinin, A.E. (2006) Urocortin 1 in the dorsal raphe regulates food and fluid consumption, but not ethanol preference in C57BL/6J mice. Neuroscience, 137: 1439-1445.
Also see Dr. Ryabinin's PubMed Listing
Education
M.D. (1985) 2nd Moscow Medical Institute, Russia
Ph.D. (1991) Institute of Normal Physiology, Moscow, Russia
Previous Positions
Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla
Junior Research Fellow, Institute of Normal Physiology, Moscow, Russia
