The Graduate Program in Neuroscience

Faculty Profile
Mark O. West, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology Department of Psychology BS 1976, UC, Irvine PhD 1982, Bowman Gray, Wake Forest University School of Medicine Postdoctoral Training: 1982 - 1986, Southwestern Medical School
Rutgers University Division of Life Sciences Department of Psychology 152 Frelinghuysen Road Piscataway, NJ 08854 (732) 445-2419 FAX: (732) 445-2263 markwest@rci.rutgers.edu Laboratory Home Page
Research Interests		Research Techniques
Behaviorally correlated activity of striatal and limbic neurons: effects of dopamine and experience		Ensemble recording of single neurons during dopamine-mediated behaviors Histochemical staining to identify synaptic connections of recorded neurons
Research Summary
The behavioral correlates of dopamine are among the most intriguing in neuroscience, including substance abuse, schizophrenia, and motor activation, or, in the absence of dopamine, parkinsonism. Yet little is known regarding dopamine's effects on the action potential activity (firing) of its target neurons during these behaviors. We study the firing of target neurons in the striatum of the unrestrained rat, specifically, in the sensorimotor (putamen) and limbic (accumbens) subregions of the striatum. Our present models include 1) temporary dopamine lesion via microinjection of apomorphine into substantia nigra: effect on somatosensory receptive fields of putamen neurons, 2) intravenous cocaine self-administration: firing patterns of accumbens neurons in relation to incentive motivational, motoric, or pharmacological variables, 3) experience dependent changes in movement-related firing of putamen neurons as a function repeated exposure to cocaine and/or behavioral task.

Key References
For complete list: PubMed West, M.O. (1998) Anesthetics eliminate somatosensory-evoked discharges of neurons in the somatotopically organized sensorimotor striatum of the rat. J. Neurosci. 18: 9055-9068. Peoples, L.L., Uzwiak, A.J., Guyette, F.X., and West, M.O. (1998) Tonic inhibition of single nucleus accumbens neurons in the rat: a predominant but not exclusive firing pattern induced by cocaine self-administration sessions. Neurosci. 86: 13-22 Peoples, L.L., Gee, F., Bibi, R., and West, M.O. (1998) Phasic firing time-locked to cocaine self-infusion and locomotion: dissociable firing patterns of single nucleus accumbens neurons in the rat. J. Neurosci. 18: 7588-7598 Peoples, L.L., Uzwiak, A.J., Gee, F., Fabbricatore, A.T., Muccino, K.J., Mohta, B.D., and West, M.O. (1999) Phasic accumbal firing may contribute to the regulation of drug taking during intravenous cocaine self-administration sessions. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 877: 781-787 Peoples, L.L., Uzwiak, A.J., Gee, F., and West, M.O. (1999) Tonic firing of rat nucleus accumbens neurons: changes during the first two weeks of daily cocaine self-administration sessions. Brain Res. 822:231-236.