The University of Texas at San Antonio
Top News 
UTSA presents exhibit of art created from aluminum and poured enamels
Eric Breish's exhibit runs through April 27 at UTSA Downtown Gallery
UTSA research: Does rejection increase charitable behavior?
College of Business marketing study examines social exclusion
Feb. 23 symposium explores successful high-stakes working relationships
Free and open to public, high-profile panelists to relate experiences, best practices
UTSA Libraries offers free trial of language learning software in February
Test and give feedback on software for learning 70+ languages
UTSA, Alamo Colleges develop streamlined path for engineering students
New program established at Feb. 15 signing ceremony
UTSA vice president for student affairs recognized nationally by peers
Gage E. Paine to be honored by national student personnel administration group
Free for students: UTSA Student Health Services offers flu, Tdap shots
Vaccines help protect from flu, whooping cough, other serious illnesses
UTSA physicists honored by peers for advances in energy-efficient lighting
Researchers create world's most intense infrared-activated, light-emitting phosphor
UTSA sciences dean George Perry honored by Portugal Academy of Sciences
Alzheimer's expert is foreign correspondent for educational, research collaboration
UTSA names James David Oliver assistant vice president for facilities
Oliver comes to UTSA from UT Health Science Center San Antonio
UTSA realigns research program as it moves toward Tier One status
Provost to oversee education and research, aligning university's strengths
UTSA hosts high school seniors from across Texas at Top Scholars Dinner
Annual event gives admitted students and their parents a taste of UTSA
Regents toughen UTSA admission requirements beginning in 2013
mySA.com story: Additional administrative-academic building cost increase approved
UTSA Roadrunner of the Month is psychology major Torrie Jackson
Mentor to resident assistants plans to earn doctorate, open psychology practice
Applications accepted now for UTSA Summer Law School Preparation Academy
Lauded program helps Texas students gain admission to quality law schools
UTSA tularemia researchers granted U.S. patent for work on bacterium
Bacterium Francisella tularensis can cause fatal disease known as rabbit fever
UTSA biologist awarded $1.3 million National Institutes of Health grant for brain research
Carlos Paladini
Share this Story(Dec. 14, 2011) -- Carlos Paladini, UTSA associate professor of biology, was awarded a $1.3 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to study which inputs in the brain drive dopamine cells to fire faster.
Dopamine cells release a chemical or neurotransmitter in the brain called dopamine, which drives motivated and reward-related behaviors. The loss of dopamine cells in the brain is associated with Parkinson's disease cases, and the effects of drugs of abuse on dopamine cells can lead to addiction. Paladini hopes the research results will eventually assist in helping to find therapies to cure drug addiction and treat patients with Parkinson's disease.
The researcher and his graduate students are focusing on the spikes of electrical activity associated with dopamine cells in the brain and the effects they have in driving motivated behavior. They hope to learn how dopamine cells get access to information in the brain that drives reward-related behavior.
"We want to find out what are the inputs to the dopamine cells that actually drive the cells to either increase their activity in terms of a reward or reward signal, and what are the inputs that drive the cell to decrease their activity if the reward that was expected was not received," said Paladini. "We don't know which inputs or which parts of the brain connect to dopamine cells to inform the cell and give it all the information it needs to calculate whether it should fire faster or slower."
To conduct the research, the scientists are using optical fibers to stimulate dopamine cell inputs that produce a protein that is sensitive to blue light. A virus with a gene is injected into the inputs and that gene makes the cells produce a protein that is sensitive to blue light. When the protein is shone with blue light, it activates the cell, which is similar to what occurs when a reward takes place.
"If we go to the region where the dopamine cells are and shine a blue light, only those inputs that are producing that protein will be activated," Paladini said. "We will know for certain that when we shine blue light and activate only one input, whatever effect we see in a dopamine cell is going to be due to the effect on those inputs that have that specific protein and not any other inputs that are there."
University Communications
Contact Us
Follow UTSA News on Twitter