Thursday, July 3, 2025 7/3/2025

Dissecting Ventral Pallidal Subcircuit Contributions to Drug Seeking in Addiction

Award Number: DP5OD026407
ORGANIZATION: OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR, NIH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/26/2023
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2025

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Dissecting Ventral Pallidal Subcircuit Contributions to Drug Seeking in Addiction - ABSTRACT Drug addiction is a pervasive health problem in our society. We still lack specific therapeutic interventions to break the recurrent pattern of relapse to drug seeking that characterizes the disorder; a result of poor understanding of the neural circuits and cellular adaptations responsible for relapse. The use of illicit drugs is rising steadily in the Unites States, with the number of deaths related to drug overdose dramatically accelerating over the last 5 years. Relapse and drug craving are critically driven by neuronal activity in the interconnected nuclei of the ventral basal ganglia, which have a well described role in motivated behavior and reward learning. Within this network the ventral pallidum (VP) is a critical regulator of relapse to all known drugs of abuse. To date, much addiction research has focused on the nucleus accumbens, a primary input structure to the VP, but the VP itself has been largely disregarded as an inhibitory downstream relay of addiction-related information. However, VP neurons respond temporally quicker to rewarding emotional stimuli than upstream nucleus accumbens neurons. Furthermore, while VP neurons are generally thought to be largely GABAergic, the VP also contains a subpopulation (~30%) of glutamatergic neurons that project to the same downstream areas as inhibitory GABAergic VP neurons. These findings challenge the accepted idea that the VP is an inhibitory relay structure and suggest advanced processing of emotional information in the VP independent of nucleus accumbens inputs, with implications that transform our understanding of basal ganglia function. By using my recently developed mouse model for drug relapse, I identified an inhibitory role for glutamatergic VP neurons during relapse, demonstrating that these neurons act oppositely to GABAergic VP neurons. Based on these observations I predict that drug abuse reduces the capacity of glutamatergic VP neurons to inhibit drug seeking, and that behavioral engagement during drug seeking is carried by activity in GABAergic VP neurons. This proposal employs cutting edge technological advances in the cell type specific dissection of neural circuit function and connectivity such as optogenetics, chemogenetics, in vivo cell-type specific monitoring of calcium activity in freely behaving mice, and slice electrophysiology recordings from genetically labeled glutamatergic and GABAergic VP neurons to investigate cell type and pathway specific VP circuit adaptations following drug self administration and relapse. These studies will place the VP as a central component of basal ganglia circuits controlling addiction, and reveal the distinct functions of VP glutamatergic versus GABAergic neurons in regulating drug seeking, which could lay the groundwork for novel VP targeted strategies to treat addiction.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2025	2023	UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM	701 S 20TH STREET	BIRMINGHAM	AL	35294	JEFFERSON	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	000	6	2/13/2025	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2024	2023	THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO	13001 E 17TH PL STE F428	AURORA	CO	80045	ADAMS	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	002	5	4/9/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$27,218
2024	2023	UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM	701 S 20TH STREET	BIRMINGHAM	AL	35294	JEFFERSON	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	003	6	4/9/2024	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$215,432
2024	2023	UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM	701 S 20TH STREET	BIRMINGHAM	AL	35294	JEFFERSON	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	000	6	3/5/2024	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$0
2024	2022	THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO	13001 E 17TH PL STE F428	AURORA	CO	80045	ADAMS	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	001	4	4/9/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$188,214
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $388,750 )
2023	2023	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, THE	13001 E 17TH PLACE F428	AURORA	CO	80045	ADAMS	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	000	5	2/17/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$388,750
2023	2023	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, THE	13001 E 17TH PLACE F428	AURORA	CO	80045	ADAMS	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	001	5	9/21/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$361,532
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM	701 S 20TH ST	BIRMINGHAM	AL	35294	JEFFERSON	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	002	6	9/21/2023	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$361,532
														Subtotal = $388,750

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $427,625 )
2022	2022	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, THE	13001 E 17TH PLACE F428	AURORA	CO	80045	ADAMS	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	001	4	2/10/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$349,875
2022	2022	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, THE	13001 E 17TH PLACE F428	AURORA	CO	80045	ADAMS	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	002	4	5/9/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$38,875
2022	2021	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, THE	13001 E 17TH PLACE F428	AURORA	CO	80045	ADAMS	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	000	3	2/9/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$38,875
														Subtotal = $427,625

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $349,875 )
2021	2021	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, THE	13001 E 17TH PLACE F428	AURORA	CO	80045	ADAMS	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	000	3	1/4/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$349,875
														Subtotal = $349,875

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $388,750 )
2020	2020	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, THE	13001 E 17TH PLACE F428	AURORA	CO	80045	ADAMS	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	001	2	2/24/2020	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$388,750
2020	2020	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, THE	13001 E 17TH PLACE F428	AURORA	CO	80045	ADAMS	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	003	2	3/31/2020	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$358,405
2020	2019	MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA THE	179 ASHLEY AVE	CHARLESTON	SC	29425	CHARLESTON	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	002	1	3/31/2020	NEW	-$358,405
2020	2019	MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA THE	179 ASHLEY AVE	CHARLESTON	SC	29425	CHARLESTON	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	000	1	2/21/2020	NEW	$0
														Subtotal = $388,750

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $358,405 )
2019	2019	MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA	179 ASHLEY AVE	CHARLESTON	SC	29425	CHARLESTON	USA	Trans-NIH Research Support	000	1	12/14/2018	NEW	$358,405
														Subtotal = $358,405

Grand Total All Awards = $1,913,405

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Dissecting Ventral Pallidal Subcircuit Contributions to Drug Seeking in Addiction

Award Number: DP5OD026407

ORGANIZATION: OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR, NIH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/26/2023

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2025

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer