PHARMACOLOGY FACULTY
Selected Publications
  • Ma, S., Mifflin, S.W., Cunningham, J.T., and Morilak, D.A. (2008) Chronic intermittent hypoxia sensitizes acute hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal stress reactivity and Fos induction in the rat locus coeruleus in response to subsequent immobilization stress. Neuroscience, 154:1639-1647.
  • Bondi, C.O., Rodriguez, G., Gould, G.G., Frazer, A.F., and Morilak, D.A. (2008) Chronic unpredictable stress induces a cognitive deficit and anxiety-like behavior in rats that is prevented by chronic antidepressant drug treatment. Neuropsychopharmacology, 33:320-331.
  • Bondi, C.O., Barrera, G., Lapiz, M.D.S., Bédard, T., Mahan, A., and Morilak, D.A. (2007) Noradrenergic facilitation of shock-probe defensive burying in lateral septum of rats, and modulation by chronic treatment with desipramine. Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry, 31:482-495.
  • Lapiz, M.D.S., Bondi, C.O. and Morilak, D.A. (2007) Chronic treatment with desipramine improves cognitive performance of rats in an attentional set shifting test. Neuropsychopharmacology, 32:1000-1010.
  • Lapiz, M.D. and Morilak, D.A. (2006) Noradrenergic modulation of cognitive function in rat medial prefrontal cortex as measured by attentional set shifting capability. Neurosci., 137:1039-1049.
  • Morilak, D.A., Barrera, G., Echevarria, D.J., Garcia, A.S., Hernandez, A., Ma, S., Petre, C.O. (2005) Role of brain norepinephrine in the behavioral response to stress. Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatr., 29:1214-1224.
  • Ma, S. and Morilak, D.A. (2005) Chronic intermittent cold stress sensitizes the HPA response to a novel acute stress by enhancing noradrenergic influence in the rat paraventricular nucleus. J. Neuroendocrinology, 17:761-69.
  • Garcia, A.S., Barrera, G., Burke, T.F., Ma, S., Hensler, J.G. and Morilak, D.A. (2004) Autoreceptor-mediated inhibition of norepinephrine release in rat medial prefrontal cortex is maintained after chronic desipramine treatment. J. Neurochem., 91:683-693.
  • Morilak, D.A. and Frazer, A. (2004) Antidepressants and Brain Monoaminergic Systems: A Dimensional Approach to Understanding Their Efficacy in Depression and Anxiety Disorders. Int. J. Neuropsychopharmacol., 7:193-218.
  • Pardon, M.-C., Gould, G.G., Garcia, A., Phillips, L., Cook, M.C., Miller, S.A., Mason, P.A. and Morilak, D.A. (2002). Stress reactivity of the brain noradrenergic system in three rat strains differing in their neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to stress: Implications for susceptibility to stress-related neuropsychiatric disoders. Neurosci., 115:229-242.
David Morilak
 

David Morilak
Professor of Pharmacology
Ph.D., Princeton University

Office: 210-567-4174
Email: morilak@uthscsa.edu

 

View video introduction to Dr. Morilak's lab

 

Keywords

antidepressants, anxiety, behavior, cognition, depression, HPA axis, in situ hybridization, microdialysis, norepinephrine, PTSD, stress

 

Research Summary

We study the negative impact of stress, and mechanisms for better treatment of stress-related psychiatric disorders. Our focus is on the brain neurotransmitter norepinephrine (NE) and its role in a) acute behavioral, cognitive and endocrine responses to stress; b) adaptive and maladaptive responses to chronic stress; and c) regulatory mechanisms of action of psychotherapeutic drugs. NE is an important neuromodulatory transmitter, which plays a critical role in the acute response to stress by influencing arousal and sensorimotor response capabilities, and by integrating autonomic and endocrine responses with behavior. Using in vivo microdialysis and behavioral pharmacology, we investigate the role of NE in modulating anxiety-like behavioral and neuroendocrine responses to acute stress, and in enhancing higher-order cognitive processes in the prefrontal cortex related to arousal and attention. At a molecular and cellular level, we study regulatory changes in gene expression in brain noradrenergic neurons induced by stress, including synthetic enzymes, the NE transporter and post-synaptic adrenergic receptors using in situ hybridization. We assess changes in noradrenergic function produced by chronic stress that may contribute to stress-related pathology such as depression, PTSD or anxiety disorders. And we investigate the regulatory changes in NE function that contribute to the beneficial effects of antidepressant and anxiolytic drugs. Experimental approaches include behavioral tests of cognition, arousal, anxiety and defensive responses; intracerebral drug microinjections; in vivo microdialysis to measure neurotransmitter release in behaving rats; in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry and receptor autoradiography; radioimmunoassay for plasma hormone measures; and the application of chronic metabolic and psychogenic stressors. These studies will help us to understand the differential roles of NE and other monoaminergic neurotransmitters in a number of complex physiological contexts, including the response to acute stress, the development of chronic stress-related psychopathology such as anxiety or depression, and the mechanisms of beneficial action of psychotherapeutic agents such as antidepressants.