PSYCHIATRY Publication Record Al-Amin, H. A., C. Shanon-Weiket*, D. R. Weinberger*, and B.
K. Lipska*. 2001. Delayed onset of enhanced MK-801 induced motor
hyperactivity after neonatal lesions of the rat ventral hippocampus.
Biological Psychiatry 49 (6):528–539. Al-Amin, H. A., and D. R. Weinberger*. 2000. Chapter 1:
Advances in schizophrenia research. Psychopharmacology of Schizophrenia,
Eds. M. Reveley and B. Deakin. Arnold Publishers. Al-Amin, H. A., D. R. Weinberger*, and B. K. Lipska*. 2000. Exaggerated MK-801-induced motor hyperactivity in rats with the neonatal lesion of the ventral hippocampus. Behavioral Pharmacology 11 (3–4):269–278. Abstracts, Conferences, and Proceedings Al-Amin, H. A., M. Khani, and N. Damluji. July 1999. Mental
health post-war in Lebanon: Focus on panic disorder and depression. The
National Arab American Medical Association, 16th International Medical
Convention, Beirut, Lebanon. Al-Amin, H. A., N. E. Saadé, M. Jaber*, B. Bouhadir, S. J.
Jabbur, and S. F. Atweh. December 2000. Acute and chronic effects of the NMDA
antagonist dizocilpine on the sensorimotor behaviors in rats. The
Lebanese Association for the Advancement of Science, 14th Science Meeting,
Beirut, Lebanon. Al-Amin, H. A., N. E. Saadé, C. A. Massaad, M. K. Khani, S. J.
Jabbur, and S. F. Atweh. November 2000. Dopamine D1 and D2 receptors modulate
the response to acute pain in rats. Society of Neuroscience, New Orleans,
Louisiana, USA. Research Projects Neurodevelopmental perspectives of the neonatal ventral
hippocampus lesion as an animal model of schizophrenia Abnormal neurodevelopment has been suggested to play a
major role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The glutamate NMDA
system, which has also been implicated in schizophrenia, is an integral part
of neurodevelopment and cortical maturation. Various abnormal behaviors
in schizophrenia can be modeled in animals treated with NMDA antagonists
and/or dopamine agonists. The neonatal lesion of ventral hippocampus
(VH)—an animal model of schizophrenics—can be used to study the impact of
early cortical lesion on the neurodevelopment of various brain systems. The
aims of this project are 1) to study the pain threshold in the neonatal and
adult VH lesioned rats, 2) to study the effects of the noncompetitive NMDA
antagonist dizocilpine (MK-801) on pain threshold, locomotion, and stereotypy
in adult rats with neonatal VH lesion, and 3) to study the developmental
changes in the NMDA, dopamine, and opiate receptors in different brain
regions after neonatal and adult VH lesions. Al-Amin, H. A., S. Atweh, and M.
Khani. Risperidone in chronic schizophrenic subjects previously
on treatment with conventional oral antipsychotic medications This is a multicenter international study on the efficacy and tolerance of Risperidone, a serotonin-dopamine antagonist, in comparison to the classical dopamine antagonists in the treatment of chronic schizophrenia. Al-Amin, H. A., and M. Khani.
Behavioral, cellular, and molecular effects of addictive
substances on sensorimotor processes: Modulation by environmental and
pharmacological factors The mesocorticolimbic circuitry has been implicated in the
pathophysiology of several neuropsychiatric syndromes, such as drug addiction
and central pain. Behavioral studies have shown that alteration in the
dopamine/glutamate interactions at both the cortical and subcortical levels
can modulate the mesocorticolimbic circuitry. We propose the following
approaches to investigate the dopaminergic and glutamatergic mechanisms
involved in sensorimotor integration and their relations to addiction and
pain: a) effects of acute and chronic administration of
psychostimulants on motor behavior and pain tests, b) modulation of the
above-mentioned behavior by different environmental, anatomical, and
pharmacological interventions, and c) correlation of the above-mentioned
behavioral effects with changes in the cellular and molecular mechanisms
involved in the activity of the dopamine, glutamate, and opiate
systems. Such mechanisms include gene expression and immunoreactivity
of the various receptors of the latter systems, at both the cortical and
subcortical levels. Al-Amin, H. A., M. Khani, S. Atweh, and S. Jabbur. |