Pharmacology and Neuroscience
Dr. Susan E. Bergeson
Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Neuroscience
Ph.D., 1997, Oregon Health & Science University
Genetics and Molecular Neurobiology of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism:
The Bergeson lab uses a combination of behavioral, biochemical, molecular and pharmacological approaches to study the genetics of predisposition, and the molecular neurobiology of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. Through our use of microarray and bioinformatics technology, global transcriptional analyses of several genetic mouse models of alcohol drinking and dependence have uncovered new genes and biological pathways not previously known to be involved in alcohol-related behaviors and responses. We have also recently shown that chromatin remodeling and miRNA expression play a role in the differential transcriptional response to alcohol drinking seen between adolescent and adult mice. The current goals of the lab focus on: 1) alcohol-induced mRNA and miRNA transcriptome changes, 2) epigenetic consequences of alcohol drinking, 3) the B2m proteome and its role in predisposition, 4) age-specific differences in alcohol mediated molecular neuroadaptation, 5) sexual dimorphic responses to alcohol, and in general, 6) the genetics of alcoholism. Trainees have an opportunity to gain experience in a broad repertoire of laboratory technology.
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| Significant gene expression is divergent between high and low alcohol drinking mice, and apparent in mice congenic for a large region of chromosome nine. See: Mulligan and Ponomarev et al., PNAS. The up- and down- divergent expression pattern suggested a role for epigenetic chromatin remodeling. Scn4b has now been shown to be regulated through histone H4 acetylation in alcohol drinking mice. |
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| Alcohol-related transcriptome remodeling is evident across a 24 hour period in six brain regions following a standard dependence-inducing intoxication protocol. Significant expression changes are shown as a raster display using CLUSTER. Biologically relevant profiles were categorized based on significant fit to a PLS (partial least squares) pattern. |
Link to Bergeson Lab Website
Recent Publications (Click on links to view publications)
Johnson, B.A., Javors, M.A., Roache, J.D., Seneviratne, C., Bergeson, S.E., Ait-Daoud, N., Dawes, M.A., Ma, J.Z. (2007) Can serotonin transporter genotype predict serotonergic function, chronicity, and severity of drinking? Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry. In Press
Song M, Lewis CK, Lance ER, Chesler EJ, Kirova R, Langston MA, and Bergeson SE (2007) Inferring transcriptional networks from temporal mouse brain gene expression data. FOSBE., In Press.
Job MO, Tang A, Hall FS, Sora I, Uhl GR, Bergeson SE, and Gonzales RA. (2007) ? Opioid Receptor Regulation of Ethanol-induced Dopamine Response in the Ventral Striatum: Evidence of Genotype Specific Sexual Dimorphic Epistasis. Biol. Psychiatry, 62(1-2):627-34.
Ramazani RB, Krishnan HR, Bergeson SE and Atkinson NS. (2007) Computer automated movement detection for the analysis of behavior. J. Neurosci. Methods, 162:171-9.
Ponomarev I, Maiya R, Harnett MT, Schafer GL, Ryabinin AE, Blednov YA, Morikawa H, Boehm SL 2nd, Homanics GE, Berman AE, Lodowski KH, Bergeson SE, Harris RA. (2006) Transcriptional signatures of cellular plasticity in mice lacking the alpha1 subunit of GABAA receptors. J Neurosci., 26(21):5673-83.
Mulligan MK, Ponomarev I, Hitzemann RJ, Belknap JK, Tabakoff B, Harris RA, Crabbe JC, Blednov YA, Grahame NJ, Phillips TJ, Finn DA, Hoffman PL, Iyer VR, Koob GF, Bergeson SE (2006) Toward Understanding the Genetics of Alcohol Drinking Through Transcriptome Meta-analysis. PNAS., 103(16):6368-6373.
Corbin WR, Fromme K, and Bergeson SE. (2006) Preliminary data on the association among the serotonin transporter polymorphism, subjective alcohol experiences, and drinking behavior. J of Studies on Alcohol, 67(1):5-13.
YA Blednov, P Metten, DA Finn, JS Rhodes, SE Bergeson, RA Harris, and JC Crabbe. (2005) Hybrid C57Bl/6J x FVB/NJ mice drink more alcohol than C57BL/6J. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res., 29(11):1949-58.
YA Blednov, SE Bergeson, D Walker, VMM Ferreira, WA Kuziel, and RA Harris (2005) Perturbation of chemokine networks by gene deletion alters the reinforcing actions of ethanol. Beh. Brain Res., 165(1):110-25.
Bergeson SE, Berman AE, Dodd PR, Edenberg HJ, Hitzemann RJ, Lewohl JM, Lodowski KH, Sommer W. (2005) Expression Profiling in Alcoholism Research. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res., 29(6):1066-1073.
Javors MA, Seneviratne C, Roache JD, Ait-Daoud N, Bergeson SE, Walss-Bass MC, Akhtar FZ, Johnson BA. (2005) Platelet serotonin uptake and paroxetine binding among allelic genotypes of the serotonin transporter in alcoholics. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry, 29(1):7-13.
For further information contact Dr. Susan E. Bergeson