System to Test Medications Developed to Treat Drug Abuse

DESCRIPTION (Applicant's Abstract): The goal of this project is to create a system to test potential therapeutic medications for substance abuse. Information on the neurophysiology of the sites of drug action in the brain reward circuitry in animal models is critical for understanding the process of addiction in brain and clarifying modes of therapeutic intervention designed to block the craving and negative brain affect and mood characteristics of the addiction process. The new technology will build on significant new advances in fabrication of recording probes, which have recently made possible the recording of impulse trains from large populations of single neurons in animal models of addiction to drugs. One goal is to produce an advanced real time software module for the Windows 2000 operating system capable of controlling multiple behavioral chambers for testing potential medications for substance abuse. A further aim will be to create a relational database for organizing the control of experiments and accumulating all relevant experimental data. A Website interface with JAVA- language active-server applications will enable access to data in real time at remote sites on the Internet. An existing software and hardware system for capturing data from multiple spike trains will be significantly enhanced, redesigned, and greatly reduced in cost to allow automated sorting and time stamping of waveforms from large populations of neurons in the mesolimbic "brain reward system" during drug self administration behavior. The goal is to allow neuron population recording to be achieved routinely during studies of behavioral actions of candidate drug medications. Technology developed will be used applications throughout basic and clinical neurophysiology, including real time control of prosthetic robotics devices. This project will lead to establishment of new procedures urgently needed for evaluating efficacy and mode of action of therapeutic drugs for substance abuse. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: This multichannel software/hardware data acquisition system will allow a new mode of testing of potential medication for substance abuse. The system is equally adapted to a wide range off application in clinical neuroscience and physiological study. The ability to acquire multichannel neuron activity is managed by a real time software module that is readily adapted to robotic control of prosthetic devices.