- Friday, November 2, 2018
- 1:30 PM–2:20 PM
- Science Building Lecture Hall 010
Sleep-Mediated Regulation of Natural and Drug Reward - Yanhua Huang, University of Pittsburgh
Sleep profoundly impacts one’s emotional and motivational state of mind. Sleep disturbance is a comorbidity and a risk factor for various psychiatric disorders, including anxiety, depression, and drug addiction. My lab is interested in the neural mechanisms by which sleep regulates reward processing in the brain. I will present recent data showing that sleep (or sleep loss) alters the function of the brain reward circuitry and, consequently, the reward-motivated behaviors. Current efforts are focused on sleep or sleep loss-induced changes in the activity of nucleus accumbens circuit, a key element at the limbic-motor interface that gates emotional/motivational responses during reward processing. The cellular and molecular mechanisms of which are studied in the context of both natural reward seeking and drug addiction.
