Deborah A. Finn, Ph.D.

  • Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience, School of Medicine
  • Research Pharmacologist, Research Service, VA Portland Health Care System
  • Behavioral Neuroscience Graduate Program, School of Medicine

Biography

Major Areas
Neuropharmacology; neuroendocrinology of ethanol intake and withdrawal; sex differences; stress 

Summary of Current Research

Currently funded research projects are examining mechanisms underlying “sensitivity” and “resilience” to the escalation in ethanol intake after intermittent traumatic stress exposure in male and female mice with a prior history of binge drinking or of no binge drinking. We observed marked sex differences in adaptations in several neurochemical systems and biological pathways following binge drinking that may confer susceptibility for a later increase in drinking behavior and in sensitivity to stress. Additionally, stress-enhanced drinking produced sexually divergent changes in stress-system proteins. One project is examining behavioral and epigenetic changes associated with “sensitivity” and “resilience” to stress-enhanced drinking after prior binge drinking. A second project is investigating how behavioral and stress system related changes in discrete neuroanatomical circuits confer “sensitivity” to stress-enhanced drinking. An understanding of mechanisms that confer “sensitivity” to traumatic stress-enhanced drinking is necessary for the development of interventions for the treatment of comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder, which likely differ in males and females.

Additional (and currently unfunded) research projects focused on the physiological significance of neurosteroid actions as positive allosteric modulators of GABA-A receptors. Behavioral, neurochemical, and electrophysiological strategies examined whether a dysregulation in GABAergic neurosteroids: a) contributed to high ethanol withdrawal or b) altered the appetitive and consummatory processes involved in ethanol self-administration. Overall goals were to evaluate the therapeutic potential of neurosteroid treatment during ethanol withdrawal as well as the influence of neurosteroids on sex differences in patterns of ethanol intake and the response to ethanol, since males and females differ in endogenous neurosteroid levels.

Previous Positions
NINDS Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of California, Irvine

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • B.S., 1978, Loyola Marymount University
    • Ph.D., 1989, University of Southern California

Areas of interest

  • GABAergic neurosteroid modulation of ethanol drinking and ethanol withdrawal
  • Molecular, neurochemical, and behavioral changes associated with sensitivity and resilience to stress-enhanced drinking
  • Neurochemical substrates underlying binge drinking and interaction with stress with a focus on sex differences

Publications

Selected publications

  • Finn DA. The endocrine system and alcohol drinking in females. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews 40(2):02, 2020.
  • Nipper MA, Jensen JP, Helms ML, Ford MM, Crabbe JC, Rossi DJ and Finn DA. Genotype differences in sensitivity to the anticonvulsant effect of the synthetic neurosteroid ganaxolone during chronic ethanol withdrawal. Neuroscience 397:127-137, 2019.
  • Finn DA, Hashimoto JG, Cozzoli DK, Helms ML, Nipper MA, Kaufman MN, Wiren KM, and Guizzetti M. Binge ethanol drinking produces sexually divergent and distinct changes in nucleus accumbens signaling cascades and pathways in adult C57BL/6J mice. Front Genetics 9:325, 2018.
  • Finn DA, Helms ML, Nipper MA, Cohen A, Jensen JJ, and Devaud LL. Sex differences in the synergistic effect of prior binge drinking and traumatic stress on subsequent ethanol intake and neurochemical responses in adult C57BL/6J mice. Alcohol 71:33-45, 2018.
  • Finn DA and Jimenez VA. Dynamic adaptation in neurosteroid networks in response to alcohol. Handb Exp Pharmacol 248:55-78, 2018.
  • Jensen JP, Nipper MA, Helms ML, Ford MM, Crabbe JC, Rossi DJ, and Finn DA. Ethanol withdrawal-induced dysregulation of neurosteroid levels in plasma, cortex, and hippocampus in genetic animal models of high and low withdrawal. Psychopharmacology 234:2793-2811, 2017.
  • Kaplan JS, Nipper MA, Richardson BD, Jensen J, Finn DA and Rossi DJ. Pharmacologically counteracting a phenotypic difference in cerebellar GABAA receptor response to alcohol prevents excessive alcohol consumption in a high alcohol consuming rodent genotype. J Neurosci 36:9019-9025, 2016.
  • Cozzoli DK, Kaufman MN, Nipper MA, Hashimoto JG, Wiren KM, and Finn DA. Functional regulation of PI3K-associated signaling in the accumbens by binge alcohol drinking in male but not female mice. Neuropharmacology 105:164-174, 2016.
  • Guizzetti M, Davies DL, Egli M, Finn DA, Molina P, Regunathan S, Robinson DL and Sohrabji F. Sex and the lab: an alcohol-focused commentary on the NIH initiative to balance sex in cell and animal studies. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 40:1182-1191, 2016.
  • Ramaker MJ, Strong-Kaufman MN, Ford MM, Phillips TJ and Finn DA. Effect of nucleus accumbens shell infusions of ganaxolone or gaboxadol on ethanol consumption in mice. Psychopharmacology 232:1415-1426, 2015.

Publications

  • Traumatic stress-enhanced ethanol drinking

    Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research
    1. Melinda L. Helms
    2. Deborah Finn
    3. Michelle A. Nipper
    4. Andrey E. Ryabinin
    5. Rita P. Cervera-Juanes
  • Stress-enhanced ethanol drinking does not increase sensitivity to the effects of a CRF-R1 antagonist on ethanol intake in male and female mice

    Alcohol
    1. Michelle A. Nipper
    2. Melinda L. Helms
    3. Deborah Finn
    4. Andrey E. Ryabinin
  • Differential c-Fos Response in Neurocircuits Activated by Repeated Predator Stress in Male and Female C57BL/6J Mice with Stress Sensitive or Resilient Alcohol Intake Phenotypes

    Neuroscience
    1. Crystal D. Clark
    2. Ju Li
    3. Michelle A. Nipper
    4. Melinda L. Helms
    5. Deborah A. Finn
    6. Andrey E. Ryabinin
  • Corticosterone Levels and Glucocorticoid Receptor Gene Expression in High Drinking in the Dark Mice and Their Heterogeneous Stock (HS/NPT) Founder Line

    Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
    1. Antonia M. Savarese
    2. Kolter B. Grigsby
    3. Bryan E. Jensen
    4. Marissa B. Borrego
    5. Deborah A. Finn
    6. John C. Crabbe
    7. Angela R. Ozburn
  • Sensitivity and Resilience to Predator Stress-Enhanced Ethanol Drinking Is Associated With Sex-Dependent Differences in Stress-Regulating Systems

    Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
    1. Mehrdad Alavi
    2. Andrey E. Ryabinin
    3. Melinda L. Helms
    4. Michelle A. Nipper
    5. Leslie L. Devaud
    6. Deborah A. Finn
  • Sexually divergent changes in select brain proteins and neurosteroid levels after a history of ethanol drinking and intermittent PTSD-like stress exposure in adult C57BL/6J mice

    Alcohol
    1. Leslie L. Devaud
    2. Mehrdad Alavi
    3. Jeremiah P. Jensen
    4. Melinda L. Helms
    5. Michelle A. Nipper
    6. Deborah A. Finn
  • The endocrine system and alcohol drinking in females

    Alcohol Research: Current Reviews
    1. Deborah A. Finn
  • Chronic ethanol drinking increases during the luteal menstrual cycle phase in rhesus monkeys

    Psychopharmacology
    1. Brandy L. Dozier
    2. Cara A. Stull
    3. Erich J. Baker
    4. Matthew M. Ford
    5. Jeremiah P. Jensen
    6. Deborah A. Finn
    7. Kathleen A. Grant
  • Early-life sleep disruption increases parvalbumin in primary somatosensory cortex and impairs social bonding in prairie voles

    Science Advances
    1. Carolyn E. Jones
    2. Ryan A. Opel
    3. Mara E. Kaiser
    4. Alex Q. Chau
    5. Jazmine R. Quintana
    6. Michelle A. Nipper
    7. Deborah A. Finn
    8. Elizabeth A.D. Hammock
    9. Miranda M. Lim
  • Effects of sleep disruption on stress, nigrostriatal markers, and behavior in a chronic/progressive MPTP male mouse model of parkinsonism

    Journal of Neuroscience Research
    1. Mo Xu
    2. Jerry K. Bohlen
    3. Cynthia Moore
    4. Michelle A. Nipper
    5. Deborah A. Finn
    6. Carolyn E. Jones
    7. Miranda M. Lim
    8. Charles K. Meshul
  • Genotype Differences in Sensitivity to the Anticonvulsant Effect of the Synthetic Neurosteroid Ganaxolone during Chronic Ethanol Withdrawal

    Neuroscience
    1. Michelle A. Nipper
    2. Jeremiah P. Jensen
    3. Melinda L. Helms
    4. Matthew M. Ford
    5. John C. Crabbe
    6. David J. Rossi
    7. Deborah A. Finn
  • Binge ethanol drinking produces sexually divergent and distinct changes in nucleus accumbens signaling cascades and pathways in adult C57BL/6J mice

    Frontiers in Genetics
    1. Deborah A. Finn
    2. Joel G. Hashimoto
    3. Debra K. Cozzoli
    4. Melinda L. Helms
    5. Michelle A. Nipper
    6. Moriah N. Kaufman
    7. Kristine M. Wiren
    8. Marina Guizzetti
  • Neonatal Ethanol and Choline Treatments Alter the Morphology of Developing Rat Hippocampal Pyramidal Neurons in Opposite Directions

    Neuroscience
    1. C. M. Goeke
    2. M. L. Roberts
    3. J. G. Hashimoto
    4. D. A. Finn
    5. M. Guizzetti
  • Sex differences in the synergistic effect of prior binge drinking and traumatic stress on subsequent ethanol intake and neurochemical responses in adult C57BL/6J mice

    Alcohol
    1. Deborah A. Finn
    2. Melinda L. Helms
    3. Michelle A. Nipper
    4. Allison Cohen
    5. Jeremiah P. Jensen
    6. Leslie L. Devaud
  • Ethanol withdrawal-induced dysregulation of neurosteroid levels in plasma, cortex, and hippocampus in genetic animal models of high and low withdrawal

    Psychopharmacology
    1. Jeremiah P. Jensen
    2. Michelle A. Nipper
    3. Melinda L. Helms
    4. Matthew M. Ford
    5. John C. Crabbe
    6. David J. Rossi
    7. Deborah A. Finn
  • Alcohol Suppresses Tonic GABAA Receptor Currents in Cerebellar Granule Cells in the Prairie Vole

    Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
    1. Joshua S. Kaplan
    2. Claudia Mohr
    3. Caroline M. Hostetler
    4. Andrey E. Ryabinin
    5. Deborah A. Finn
    6. David J. Rossi
  • Effective Reduction of Acute Ethanol Withdrawal by the Tetracycline Derivative, Tigecycline, in Female and Male DBA/2J Mice

    Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
    1. Joseph M. Martinez
    2. Jessica A. Groot
    3. David C. Curtis
    4. Clayton L. Allison
    5. Patrick C. Marquardt
    6. Ashley N. Holmes
    7. David S. Edwards
    8. David R.M. Trotter
    9. Peter J. Syapin
    10. Deborah A. Finn
    11. Susan E. Bergeson
  • Functional regulation of PI3K-associated signaling in the accumbens by binge alcohol drinking in male but not female mice

    Neuropharmacology
    1. Debra K. Cozzoli
    2. Moriah N. Kaufman
    3. Michelle A. Nipper
    4. Joel G. Hashimoto
    5. Kristine M. Wiren
    6. Deborah A. Finn
  • Pharmacologically counteracting a phenotypic difference in cerebellar GABAA receptor response to alcohol prevents excessive alcohol consumption in a high alcohol-consuming rodent genotype

    Journal of Neuroscience
    1. Josh Steven Kaplan
    2. Michelle A. Nipper
    3. Ben D. Richardson
    4. Jeremiah Jensen
    5. Melinda Helms
    6. Deborah Ann Finn
    7. David James Rossi
  • Protein kinase C epsilon activity in the nucleus accumbens and central nucleus of the amygdala mediates binge alcohol consumption

    Biological Psychiatry
    1. Debra K. Cozzoli
    2. Justin Courson
    3. Charlotte Rostock
    4. Rianne R. Campbell
    5. Melissa G. Wroten
    6. Hadley McGregor
    7. Amanda L. Caruana
    8. Bailey W. Miller
    9. Jia Hua Hu
    10. Ping Wu Zhang
    11. Bo Xiao
    12. Paul F. Worley
    13. John C. Crabbe
    14. Deborah A. Finn
    15. Karen K. Szumlinski
  • Tigecycline Reduces Ethanol Intake in Dependent and Nondependent Male and Female C57BL/6J Mice

    Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
    1. Susan E. Bergeson
    2. Michelle A. Nipper
    3. Jeremiah Jensen
    4. Melinda L. Helms
    5. Deborah A. Finn
  • Differential effects of ghrelin antagonists on alcohol drinking and reinforcement in mouse and rat models of alcohol dependence

    Neuropharmacology
    1. Juan L. Gomez
    2. Christopher L. Cunningham
    3. Deborah A. Finn
    4. Emily A. Young
    5. Lily K. Helpenstell
    6. Lindsey M. Schuette
    7. Tara L. Fidler
    8. Therese A. Kosten
    9. Andrey E. Ryabinin
  • Effect of nucleus accumbens shell infusions of ganaxolone or gaboxadol on ethanol consumption in mice

    Psychopharmacology
    1. Marcia J. Ramaker
    2. Moriah N. Strong-Kaufman
    3. Matthew M. Ford
    4. Tamara J. Phillips
    5. Deborah A. Finn
  • Null Mutation of 5α-Reductase Type I Gene Alters Ethanol Consumption Patterns in a Sex-Dependent Manner

    Behavior genetics
    1. Matthew M. Ford
    2. Jeffrey D. Nickel
    3. Moriah N. Kaufman
    4. Deborah A. Finn