The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) awarded a $412,125 Project Grant under the Alcohol Research Programs (CFDA 93.273) to The Research Foundation For The State University Of New York to study the impact of prenatal alcohol and methadone exposure on the regulation of dopamine signaling and synaptic plasticity in the basolateral amygdala. The two-year project aims to determine how the combined exposure to prenatal alcohol and methadone alters social and non-social anxiety behaviors, and to investigate the underlying neurobiological mechanisms involving disruption of dopamine modulation of synaptic plasticity within the basolateral amygdala, a brain region associated with emotion processing. This work builds upon the grantee's preliminary data suggesting sex-specific effects of these prenatal exposures and seeks to identify a potential neural target for further exploration in future research.
Generated 7/16/24, 5:16 AM