I have been a neurobiology researcher for over a decade. Most recently, my own lab has focused on the neurobiology of choice and addiction. Below, you’ll find more information about our most recent studies. If you are looking for information about DD mice, follow this link.
You can’t always get what you want but sometimes – having dopamine really helps.
Which brain processes determine our behavior when, at any given time, we have many different motivations? My lab has been focused on the neurobiology of choice, specifically the neurobiology of behavioral choices in addiction, obesity and Parkinsonism.
One of the models that we use is the genetically modified dopamine-deficient (DD) mouse. DD mice lack the ability to synthesize dopamine in dopaminergic neurons. For more information about the DD mouse model, you can click here. In normal mice and DD mice, we study how the brain coordinates choice in situations of motivation and reward. The basal ganglia are an essential circuit in the control of behavioral choices. We believe that the subthalamic nucleus, an important input and relay within the basal ganglia, may be particularly involved in normal and pathological behavioral choices. We are especially interested in those pathologies of behavioral control that involve disordered appetitive motivation, such as addiction, obesity, and Parkinson’s disease.
Self administration from Claire Cannon on Vimeo.
Further details on our self-administration studies can be found here.
STN inhibition in a DD mouse (2) from Claire Cannon on Vimeo.
Movie Description: Feeding and locomotion of a DD mouse during subthalamic nucleus inactivation. In the absence of brain dopamine, DD mice are hypoactive and hypophagic. In this video, a DD mouse received a drug that selectively inhibited the subthalamic nucleus (STN). Within moments of the drug reaching the STN, the mouse began to explore the chamber, and to eat. Despite having recieved no DA replacement (L-dopa) for 24-h prior to the onset of this study, and no L-dopa after the onset of STN inhibition, the DD mouse voluntarily consumed enough food overnight to have gained weight by the following morning. This is unprecedented; DD mice will starve in the absence of daily L-dopa. Further details on this study can be found here.
For more videos of DD mice, follow this link