Andrey E. Ryabinin, Ph.D.
- Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience, School of Medicine
- Behavioral Neuroscience Graduate Program, School of Medicine
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, School of Medicine
Biography
Previous Positions
Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla
Junior Research Fellow, Institute of Normal Physiology, Moscow, USSR
Research Interests
My laboratory aims to understand mechanisms underlying alcohol and substance use disorders. Alcohol use in particular contributes to 95,000 deaths annually in the United States making our focus on mechanisms of alcohol use disorder an important endeavor. My research includes a wide variety of rodent models and technologies in which we have expertise, including behavioral methodologies (stress and learning paradigms, rodent alcohol self-administration, partner preference, dominance), molecular techniques (in situ hybridization, RT-qPCR, immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, receptor binding) and site-specific manipulations (intracranial injections, lesions, viral shRNA and chemogenetics). Using these various approaches my lab was among the first to identify neural substrates of amnestic effects of acute alcohol and shed light on the role of stress response-regulating peptides in excessive alcohol use and methamphetamine intake and sensitivity. We also have developed novel animal models to investigate mechanisms of social aspects of alcohol use disorder. Among them, we have discovered the phenomenon of social transfer of pain and have adapted the use of prairie voles to examine mechanisms underlying facilitating and inhibitory effects of social environment of alcohol drinking, effects of single parenting on alcohol drinking, effects of alcohol on social bonding. Our current experiments focus on finding rational approaches for the treatment of alcohol use disorder.
Animal model statement
Our research involves rodents. The wellbeing of animals is important to us. We regard the use of non-human animals in research as a symbiosis between species. In the wild, small rodents suffer from infections, hunger, dehydration, exposure and constant fear of predation. These conditions result in extensive mortality, such that less than one third of them survive past the age of adolescence. In reality, the survival rates of mice and prairie voles are even less because, as agricultural pests, they also face species-directed extermination. In contrast, our laboratory colonies provide rodents with pathogen-free conditions, constant access to food and water, and ability to reproduce. Not surprisingly, the average age of rodents in the lab exceeds age estimates in the wild. We never use more animals than what is needed to produce clinically relevant results. The one or two conditions that can cause temporary distress, to which we expose animals for the purpose of our experiments, do not exceed the continued distress rodents face in the wild. For more reading on this subject, we recommend H.H. Hefner “The symbiotic nature of animal research” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, v.43: 128-139.
Land acknowledgement and diversity statement
My laboratory at OHSU is located on the unceded, ancestral lands of the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tumwater, Watlala bands of the Chinook, the Tualatin Kalapuya and other indigenous nations of the Nch’i Wana (Columbia River). I acknowledge them and recognize that I am able to live and do my work here because of the sacrifices forced upon them. As an immigrant by necessity, I am humbly committed to providing a respectful, diverse and inclusive environment for all members of our community.
Education and training
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Degrees
- M.D., 1985, 2nd Moscow Medical Institute, USSR
- Ph.D., 1991, Institute of Normal Physiology, Moscow, Russia
Areas of interest
- Alcohol use disorder and drug addiction
- Stress-related neuropeptides
- Social neurobiology of addiction
Publications
Publications
Centrally administered growth hormone secretagogue receptor antagonist DLys decreases alcohol intake and preference in male mice
NeuroReportCFA-treated mice induce hyperalgesia in healthy mice via an olfactory mechanism
European Journal of Pain (United Kingdom)Characterization of social hierarchy formation and maintenance in same-sex, group-housed male and female C57BL/6 J mice
Hormones and BehaviorEffects of oxytocin receptor agonism on acquisition and expression of pair bonding in male prairie voles
Translational PsychiatryEffects of social housing on alcohol intake in mice depend on the non-social environment
Frontiers in Behavioral NeuroscienceStress-enhanced ethanol drinking does not increase sensitivity to the effects of a CRF-R1 antagonist on ethanol intake in male and female mice
AlcoholDifferential 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
NeuroscienceMale-selective effects of oxytocin agonism on alcohol intake
NeuropsychopharmacologyOxytocin Receptors in the Mouse Centrally-projecting Edinger-Westphal Nucleus and their Potential Functional Significance for Thermoregulation
NeuroscienceSensitivity and Resilience to Predator Stress-Enhanced Ethanol Drinking Is Associated With Sex-Dependent Differences in Stress-Regulating Systems
Frontiers in Behavioral NeuroscienceAssessing effects of oxytocin on alcohol consumption in socially housed prairie voles using radio frequency tracking
Addiction BiologySocial Housing Leads to Increased Ethanol Intake in Male Mice Housed in Environmentally Enriched Cages
Frontiers in Behavioral NeuroscienceTemporal analysis of individual ethanol consumption in socially housed mice and the effects of oxytocin
PsychopharmacologyVesicular glutamate transporter 2-containing neurons of the centrally-projecting Edinger-Westphal nucleus regulate alcohol drinking and body temperature
NeuropharmacologyDifferential sensitivity of alcohol drinking and partner preference to a CRFR1 antagonist in prairie voles and mice
Hormones and BehaviorEffects of Housing Conditions and Circadian Time on Baseline c-Fos Immunoreactivity in C57BL/6J Mice
NeuroscienceEffects of pharmacological inhibition of the centrally-projecting Edinger-Westphal nucleus on ethanol-induced conditioned place preference and body temperature
AlcoholEffects of Alcohol Consumption on Pair Bond Maintenance and Potential Neural Substrates in Female Prairie Voles
Alcohol and Alcoholism