Overview
My research is focused on understanding brain plasticity associated with drug addiction, mood/anxiety disorders, as well as co-morbid syndromes like sleep apnea. We are specifically aiming to answer the following questions: 1) Do glutamate receptor-interacting proteins like the superoxide generating NOX enzyme play a role in opiate related plasticity? 2) Do polymorphisms in genes for neurotrophins and other glutamate receptor-interacting molecules impact opiate mediated neurobehavioral plasticity? 3) How is the consolidation, extinction, and reinstatement of opiate context conditioning impacted by anxiety/mood disorders.
Achievements & Publications
We have characterized the synaptic organization of ionotropic glutamate receptors in the central nucleus of the amygdala. We have also shown that the synaptic location of ionotropic glutamate receptors is modified by exposure to opiates. and that spatial-temporal deletion of distinct ionotropic glutamate receptor subunits differentially impacts the expression of opiate context learning.
- Beckerman MA, Ogorodnik, E, Glass, MJ. Acute morphine associated alterations in the subcellular location of the AMPA-GluR1 receptor subunit in dendrites of neurons in the mouse central nucleus of the amygdala: Comparisons and contrasts with other glutamate receptor subunits. Synapse, 2013.
- Glass, MJ, Robinson, DC, Waters, E, Pickel, VM. Deletion of the NMDA-NR1 receptor subunit gene in the mouse nucleus accumbens attenuates apomorphine-induced dopamine D1 receptor trafficking and acoustic startle behavior. Synapse, 67:265-79, 2013.
- Beckerman, MA, Van Kempen, TA, Justice NJ, Milner, TA, Glass, MJ. Corticotropin-releasing factor in the mouse central nucleus of the amygdala: Ultrastructural distribution in NMDA-NR1 receptor subunit expressing neurons as well as projection neurons to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Experimental Neurology, 239:120-132, 2013.
- Wang, G, Coleman, C, Glass, M, Zhou, P, Qi, Y, Park, L, Anrather, J, Pickel, V, Iadecola, C. Angiotensin II type 2 receptor-coupled nitric oxide production modulates free radical availability and voltage-gated Ca2+ currents in NTS neurons. Am. J. Physiol., 302:R1076-83, 2012.
- Beckerman, MA and Glass, MJ. The NMDA-NR1 receptor subunit and the mu-opioid receptor are expressed in somatodendritic compartments of central nucleus of the amygdala neurons projecting to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Experimental Neurology, 234:112-126, 2012.
- Beckerman, MA and Glass, MJ. Ultrastructural relationship between the AMPA-GluR2 receptor subunit and the mu-opioid receptor in the mouse central nucleus of the amygdala. Experimental Neurology, 227:149-158, 2011.