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Assistant Professor |
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Email: alcantara@psy.utexas.edu
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Dr. Adriana Alcantara is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and affiliate of the Institute for Neuroscience, Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research, and Imaging Center. Dr. Alcantara obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and received postdoctoral training at The University of California, San Diego and Yale University. Dr. Alcantara was an invited “STAR” Plenary Speaker at the 20th Anniversary NIMH Career Opportunities in Research Education and Training (COR) Meeting in Washington, D.C. and is a recipient of the "Distinguished Alumnus Award" of the American Psychological Association MFP in Neuroscience.
Research Program
Dr. Alcantara’s research program focuses on elucidating the underlying neural basis of alcoholism and drug addiction. Dr. Alcantara’s laboratory combines state-of-the-art behavioral and neuroanatomical procedures and her work represents a unique approach bridging Behavioral Neuroscience and Molecular Neurobiology that will provide insight into the underlying mechanisms of drug addiction and related clinical disorders such as Tourette's Syndrome, attention deficit disorder, and schizophrenia. Neurobiological studies have identified specific brain areas and molecular mechanisms involved in drug abuse and dependence. Specific cell types in these brain areas and their role in alcohol or drug-related behaviors, however, have not yet been identified. Dr. Alcantara’s research program is unique in that her laboratory has identified cholinergic interneurons of the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex and plastic changes within those cells as key players in drug abuse and dependence. Furthermore, drug-induced persistent behaviors such as sensitization, tolerance or relapse far outlast any previously reported molecular mechanisms. A challenge in the field of addiction, therefore, has been to identify brain changes that subserve long-lasting changes in behavior. Dr. Alcantara’s laboratory has recently found ultrastructural evidence of synaptic rewiring in association with cocaine-induced behavioral sensitization. Such synaptic remodeling may represent a potential neural substrate underlying the persistence of addiction. Identifying specific neuronal circuits and the molecular and synaptic plasticity within those circuits will improve understanding of the cellular basis of compulsive drug intake, craving and relapse. Site-specific pharmacotherapeutic and behavioral treatment programs for alcoholism and drug addiction can then target these circuits.
Selected Publications
Bao H, Berlanga ML, Xue M, Hapip SM, Daniels RW, Mendenhall JM, Alcantara AA, Zhang B (2007) The atypical cadherin flamingo regulates synaptogenesis and helps prevent axonal and synaptic degeneration in Drosophila. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, 34:662-678.
Camp MC, Mayfield RD, McCracken M, McCracken L, Alcantara AA (2006) Neuroadaptations of CDK5 in Cholinergic Interneurons of the Nucleus Accumbens and Prefrontal Cortex of Inbred Alcohol-Preferring (iP) Rats Following Voluntary Alcohol Drinking. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 30(8): 1322-1335.
Alcantara, AA. Tourette's Syndrome (2006) The Encyclopedia of Human Development. Neal J. Salkind (ED.), Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Berlanga ML, Simpson TK, and Alcantara AA (2005) Dopamine D5 Receptor Localization on Cholinergic Neurons of the Rat Forebrain and Diencephalon: A Potential Neuroanatomical Substrate Involved in Mediating Dopaminergic Influences on Acetylcholine Release. The Journal of Comparative Neurology 492(1):34-49.
Herring BE, Mayfield RD, Camp MC and Alcantara AA (2004) Ethanol Induced Fos-Immunoreactivity in the Extended Amygdala and Hypothalamus of the Rat Brain: Focus on Cholinergic Interneurons of the Nucleus Accumbens. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 28:588-597.
Berlanga ML, Olsen CM, Chen V, Ikegami A, Herring BE, Duvauchelle CL and Alcantara AA (2003) Cholinergic Interneurons of the Nucleus Accumbens and Dorsal Striatum are Activated by the Self-Administration of Cocaine. Neuroscience 120:1149-1156.
Alcantara AA, Chen V, Herring BE, Mendenhall JM and Berlanga ML (2003) Localization of Dopamine D2 Receptors on Cholinergic Interneurons of the Dorsal Striatum and Nucleus Accumbens of the Rat. Brain Research 986:22-29.
Alcantara AA, Mrzljak L, Jakab RL, Levey AI, Hersch SM and Goldman-Rakic PS (2001) Muscarinic m1 and m2 Receptor Proteins in Local Circuit and Projection Neurons of the Primate Striatum: Anatomical Evidence for Cholinergic Modulation of Glutamatergic Prefrontal-Striatal Pathways. Journal of Comparative Neurology 434:445-460. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/80502227/main.html,ftx abs
Anderson BJ, Alcantara AA and Greenough WT (1996) Motor Skill Learning Effects on the Synaptic Organization of the Rat Cerebellar Cortex. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 66:221-229.
Alcantara AA and Greenough WT (1993) Developmental Regulation of Fos and Fos-Related Antigens in Cerebral Cortex, Hippocampus and Cerebellum of the Rat. Journal of Comparative Neurology 344:75-85.
Alcantara AA, Pfenninger KH and Greenough WT (1992) 5B4-CAM Expression Parallels Neurite Outgrowth and Synaptogenesis in the Developing Rat Brain. Journal of Comparative Neurology 319:337-348.
Black JE, Isaacs KR, Anderson BJ, Alcantara AA and Greenough WT (1990) Learning Causes Synaptogenesis, whereas Motor Activity Causes Angiogenesis, in Cerebellar Cortex of Adult Rats. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 87:5568-5572.
Recent Invited Lectures
National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse (Funded by NIH/NIDA) "Synaptic Rewiring in the Brain: A Potential Neural Substrate Underlying Cocaine-Induced Behavioral Sensitization" Scottsdale, AZ, 2006.
Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism (INIA) Consortium "Involvement and Neuroadaptation of Cholinergic Interneurons of the Nucleus Accumbens Across Progressive Stages of Alcohol Drinking and Withdrawal" San Diego, CA, 2005.
8th International Symposium on Parkinson's Disease Research, National Parkinson Foundation, "Environmental Effects on the Microcircuitry of the Brain: Implications for Parkinson's Disease" New Orleans, LA, 2003.
NIH/NIDA Workshop "The Development and Functions of the Frontal/Prefrontal Lobes: Role in Drug Abuse" Invited Speaker, Bethesda, MD, 2001.
6th Annual Neuroscience Symposium, The University of Texas at Austin "Chemical Neuroanatomy of the Basal Ganglia: Understanding the Cellular Basis of Behavior and Clinical Disorders" Austin, TX, 2001.
"STAR" Plenary Speaker at the 20th Anniversary NIMH COR Meeting "Ultrastructural Chemical Neuroanatomy of Cholinergic Interneurons: Implications for Basal Ganglia-Related Disorders and Drug Addiction" Washington DC, 2000.
Research Grants
National Institute of Health/National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIH/NIAAA) and Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism (INIA) "Ethanol Driven Neuroadaptation of Cholinergic Interneurons". PI: Dr. Adriana A. Alcantara, Co-Is: Dr. Dayne Mayfield and Dr. Richard Morrisett ($942,408) 9/01 - 9/06.
National Institute of Health/National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIH/NIDA) "Cocaine and Behavior: Progressive Changes in Behavior, Dopamine and c-Fos". PI: Dr. Christine Duvauchelle, Co-I: Dr. Adriana A. Alcantara ($1,300,000) 9/03 - 9/08.
National Institute of Health/National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIH/NIAAA) "Neural Mechanisms of Ethanol Self-Administration". PI Rueben Gonzales; Co-Is: Adriana Alcantara and Christine Duvauchelle ($924,108) 9/04 - 9/09.
Morton Meyerson Family Foundation ($24,000) 1/03 - 1/04.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA) 9/03 - 9/08. Awarded to Monica L. Berlanga; Advisor: Dr. Adriana A. Alcantara.
