Lindsay Pascal

 

 

E-mail: pascal@wisc.edu

Research Project:

I am working jointly between the laboratories of Brian Baldo and Vaishali Bakshi in the department of Psychiatry. I’m interested understanding the neurobiology of feeding and reward and how these constructs integrate with aversive emotional states, including stress, in animal models.

My current projects examine appetitive behavior and the Nucleus Accumbens (Acb), a hedonic hotspot, in the rat. Stimulation of the μ–opioid receptor in the nucleus accumbens increases positive hedonic response to highly palatable food as well as increases intake of such foods. I use microinfusion techniques to investigate the effects of chronic opioid conditioning and psychological stress on highly palatable, fatty food intake. Additionally, I’m investigating how repeated opioid stimulation induces plastic changes in the Acb and examining to what extent these opioid-induced changes affect amino acid transmission and regulation of feeding in the Acb.

Abstracts and Publications:

• Spencer, R.C., L.P. Pascal, A.E. Kelley, V.P. Bakshi, and B.A. Baldo. 2008. Glutamate and opioid systems in the nucleus accumbens regulate stress-induced suppression of feeding. Soc. Neurosci. Abstr.