1986 — 1995 |
Hannigan, John H |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Psychopharmacology of Ethanol-Induced Teratogenesis
Children born of mothers who drink alcohol during their pregnancies can be afflicted with syndrom of morphological anomolies of varying severity and of behavioral dysfunctions ranging from profound mental retardation to hyperactivity to subtler marginal deficits. The behavioral effects of prenatal alcohol exposure in children have been modeled reliably by administrating pregnant rats liquid diets containing different percentages of ethanol-derived calories (35% or 0% EDC). The model produces pups in which maturational delays and deficits in activity and learning have been studied successfully. The biological, and in particular, neurochemical bases for the behavioral effects of prenatal alcohol exposure are not well understood. We intend to investigate the functional integrity of central nervous system neurotransmitter systems in these animals by measuring the development of their behavioral responses to pharmacological agents. Specifically, our aim is to study the influence of prenatal alcohol exposure on behaviroal responses to drugs which influence dopamine, norepinephrine and acetylcholine systems. In particular, the pharmacological treatments chosen will be used because they are known to influence various measures of locomotor activity, display well-defined developmental courses, and have relatively well-understood mechanisms of action. The results of the proposed experiments, first, will provide important information with which to characterize the functional effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on neurotransmitter systems. Secondly, results which show attenuated behavioral effects of prenatal alcohol exposure in the animal model may suggest possible therapeutic treatments for children with symptoms of fetal alcohol exposure. Thirdly, these pharmacological challenges may reveal subtle or marginal deficits and thereby may prove useful in determining the range of influence of prenatal alcohol exposure. In summary, the proposed experiments will utilize a reliable animal model of the behavioral effects of prenatal alcohol exposure in children to study the symptomatic contribution and funcitonal integrity of neurotransmitter systems in "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome." The nature and developmental course of specific psychopharmacological responses wil be tested. The results of this research will provide important information on the developmental courses of specific behaviors after prenatal alcohol exposure, on the nature of relatively specific neurotransmitter involvement in the behavioral changes, and on the possible diagnostic and therapeutic uses of these pharmacological challenges.
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1987 — 1992 |
Hannigan, John H |
K01Activity Code Description: For support of a scientist, committed to research, in need of both advanced research training and additional experience. K21Activity Code Description: To foster the development of outstanding scientists with potential for making important contributions to the fields of alcoholism, drug abuse or mental health (ADM) research. Primarily intended to meet the need for supervised research experience for highly promising biological or behavioral scientists who need further supervised research experience. |
Behavioral Neuropharmacology of Fetal Alcohol Exposure |
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1996 — 2004 |
Hannigan, John H |
P50Activity Code Description: To support any part of the full range of research and development from very basic to clinical; may involve ancillary supportive activities such as protracted patient care necessary to the primary research or R&D effort. The spectrum of activities comprises a multidisciplinary attack on a specific disease entity or biomedical problem area. These grants differ from program project grants in that they are usually developed in response to an announcement of the programmatic needs of an Institute or Division and subsequently receive continuous attention from its staff. Centers may also serve as regional or national resources for special research purposes. R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. R25Activity Code Description: For support to develop and/or implement a program as it relates to a category in one or more of the areas of education, information, training, technical assistance, coordination, or evaluation. S06Activity Code Description: To strengthen the biomedical research and research training capability of ethnic minority institutions, and thus establish a more favorable milieu for increasing the involvement of minority faculty and students in biomedical research. |
Amelioration of Fetal Alcohol Effects
Prenatal exposure to alcohol can produce Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and Alcohol-Related Birth Defects (ARBDs) which are associated with cognitive disabilities and mental retardation. this component of the Fetal Alcohol Research Center proposal will be one of the first studies to systematically examine the possibility that some of these ARBDs can be ameliorated by postnatal manipulations. This project will test the ability of postnatal environmental enrichment to ameliorate prenatal alcohol-induced behavioral dysfunction and brain anomalies in animals. The strategy is to rear prenatal alcohol-exposed rats in various postnatal environments that differ in social interactions, sensory stimulation, and opportunities for motor behaviors. The more enriched environments are designed to help stimulate development of the animals' motor and cognitive abilities, even though those abilities are compromised by prenatal alcohol exposure. We hypothesize that postnatal environmental enrichment will ameliorate prenatal alcohol-induced disruptions in behavior, neurophysiology, and neuroanatomy. The project will focus on the neurobiology of the hippocampus because this brain area is particularly sensitive to alcohol; because hippocampal dysfunction may underlie some behavioral deficits following prenatal alcohol exposure; and because hippocampal function and anatomy are known to be responsive to postnatal environmental enrichment. We will integrate behavioral, electrophysiological, and neuroanatomical methods to study the impact of various characteristics of environmental enrichment (e.g., social housing, handling, sensory stimulation -- as well as sensitive periods for and persistence of enrichment effects), on dose-, age- and gender- dependent fetal alcohol effects.
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1998 — 2000 |
Hannigan, John H |
N01Activity Code Description: Undocumented code - click on the grant title for more information. |
Preg Women/Fetuses At Risk For Alc Birth Defects
This contract will support the LMBB investigation of the role of nutrition in the EFA status of pregnant women whose fetuses are at risk for ARBD. Contract objectives include (a) recruitment of an appropriate sample of pregnant women and (b) collection of the mothers nutritional, medical, demographic, and alcohol and other drug use data as well as collection of data to characterize their newborns. Extensive information shall be collected concerning the alcohol consumption history. Tissues or fluid samples adequate to provide for an assessment of the EFA status of the women are required. Blood samples shall be withdrawn from the mother on at least two occasions as well as from the placenta at the time of birth. Biochemical assays of vitamin levels shall be performed on fresh blood samples by the contractor. Other samples may also be collected in order to assess the nutritional status of the mother and infant (e.g., adipose, placenta, umbilical cord or meconium). Intact samples shall be frozen and sent to the laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics (LMBB) within the NIAAA Intramural Program in Rockville, MD. The LMBB shall perform fatty acid analyses of the total lipid extracts and various lipid fractions for these specimens using established GC/FID and GC/MS or LC/MS methods, as appropriate. The Contractor shall insert clinical and nutritional data into spreadsheets and supply them to the LMBB. Both the LMBB and the Contractor shall perform statistical analyses of the data in their relationship as research collaborators.
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