Elucidation of
Biochemical Pathways in the Striatum Involved in Controlling Movement
and Drug-Addiction
The striatum is a
region of the brain that is involved in controlling movement. The
striatum is also activated by stimuli associated with reward and thus is
important drug addiction. Our lab studies a protein, RGS9-2, that is
specifically expressed in the striatum and has been shown to modulate
striatal dopamindergic and opioid pathways. These pathways have been
shown to be important in the striatal control of movement and drug
addiction, and experiments using mice in which the RGS9 gene has been
knocked out have confirmed an important role for RGS9-2 in these
processes. For this project we will study how RGS9-2 modulates the
expression and trafficking of dopamine and opioid receptors expressed in
striatal neurons so as to better understand the biochemistry of movement
and drug-addiction.
