Office: 210-567-6969
Email: france@uthscsa.edu
Research in my laboratory focuses on interactions between behavior and pharmacology as those interactions influence the abuse liability of drugs. One major goal of the laboratory has been to understand how the subjective effects of drugs change as a consequence of certain behavioral and pharmacologic histories. This laboratory has developed behavioral procedures (drug discrimination) that are sensitive to the withdrawal-precipitating effects of antagonists and we use these procedures to study the development of dependence and the expression of withdrawal as well as how these phenomena can be modified by various pharmacologic and behavioral manipulations.
One unifying theme of research in this laboratory is the use of receptor theory, which provides a framework for the planning, execution and interpretation of behavioral studies with drugs. Thus, many of our studies attempt to differentiate among drugs on the basis of their efficacy and selectivity, thereby identifying the pharmacologic characteristics of drugs that are most important for particular behavioral effects (e.g., reinforcing effects).
Current areas of research include the following: studies on the mechanism of action, abuse and dependence liability of GHB and related "club drugs"; the role of insulin receptor pathways in regulating dopamine transporter activity and sensitivity to stimulants; GABA receptor heterogeneity and the dependence liability of sedative/hypnotics; and the influence of physical dependence on the reinforcing effects of opioids.
Selected Recent Publications
France, C.P., Weltman, R.H., Koek, W., Cruz, C.M., & McMahon, L.R. (2006) Acute and chronic effects of ramelteon in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta): dependence liability studies. Behavioral Neuroscience, 120, 535-541.
Koek, W., Carter, L.P., Wu, H., Coop, A., & France, C.P. (2006) Discriminative stimulus effects of flumazenil: Perceptual masking by baclofen and lack of substitution with gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and the GHB precursors 1, 4-BD and GBL. Behavioral Pharmacology, 17, 239-247.
McMahon, L.R.,& France, C.P. (2006) Differential behavioral effects of low efficacy positive GABAA modulators in combination with benzodiazepines and a neuroactive steroid in rhesus monkeys. British Journal of Pharmacology, 147, 260-268.
Koek, W., Carter, L.R., Lamb, R.J., Chen, W., Wu, H., Coop, A., & France, C.P. (2005) Discriminative stimulus effects of γ -hydroxybutyrate (GHB) in rats discriminating GHB from baclofen and diazepam. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 314, 170-179.
Sevak, R.J., Koek, W., & France, C.P. (2005) Streptozotocin-induced diabetes differentially modifies haloperidol- and γ-hydroxybutyrate (GHB)- induced catalepsy. European Journal of Pharmacology, 517, 64-67.
Carter, L.P., Chen, W., Wu, H., Mehta, A., Hernandez, R.J., Ticku, M.K., Coop, A., Koek, W., & France, C.P. (2005) Comparison of the behavioral effects of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and its 4-methyl-substituted analog, gamma-hydroxyvaleric acid (GHV). Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 78, 91-99.
McMahon, L.R. & France, C.P. (2005) Negative GABAA modulators attenuate the discriminative stimulus effects of benzodiazepines and the neuroactive steroid pregnanolone in rhesus monkeys. Psychopharmacology 181, 697-705.
Owens, W.A., Sevak, R.J., Galici, R., Chang, X., Javors, M.A., Galli, A., France, C.P., & Daws, L.C. (2005) Deficits in dopamine clearance and locomotion in hypoinsulinemic rats unmask novel modulation of dopamine transporters by amphetamine. Journal of Neurochemistry, 94, 1402-1410.
Sell, S.L., McMahon, L.R., Koek, W., & France, C.P. (2005) Monoaminergic drugs and directly observable signs of LAAM withdrawal in rhesus monkeys. Behavioural Pharmacology, 16, 53-58.
Carter, L.P., Wu, H., Chen, W., Matthews, M.M., Mehta, A.K., Hernandez, R.J., Thomson, J.A., Ticku, M.K., Coop, A., Koek, W., & France, C.P. (2005) Novel γ-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) analogs share some, but not all, of the behavioral effects of GHB and GABAB receptor agonists. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 313, 1314-1323.
