Jeffery D. Steketee, Ph.D.
Professor

Room 325 Crowe Research Building
(901) 448-4585
FAX (901) 448-7206
jsteketee@utmem.edu

Research Interest:

My research focuses on the neural circuits that underlie drug addiction using, predominantly, behavioral, pharmacological and neurochemical approaches.  The principle drug of interest is cocaine.  The primary behavioral model is behavioral sensitization, which is the enhanced locomotor response that occurs with repeated, intermittent drug exposure.  Behavioral sensitization is a useful model for drug-induced neural plasticity that is though to underlie craving and relapse.  Additional behavioral models include conditioned place preference and drug self-administration.  The circuit under investigation is the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system.  Specifically recent studies have examined on how cocaine exposure alters the regulation of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex that project to the nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area.  In particular, the impact of cocaine on dopamine, glutamate and GABA modulation of cortical neurons is being examined at the neurotransmitter and receptor levels.  These studies involve the use of in vivo microdialysis to monitor neurotransmitter release and pharmacological agents to examine receptor function.  In addition, to these procedures, other techniques employed in my lab include western blotting, radioenzymatic assays such as the measurement of protein kinase C activity and transporter assays.  In addition, I encourage members of my research team to develop multidisciplinary projects that can include collaboration with other labs to expand the number of techniques available to them.

Selected Publications:

Xie, X. and Steketee, J.D. Group II metabotropic glutamate receptor regulation of mesocorticolimbic glutamate transmission: effects of repeated cocaine exposure. Journal of Neurochemistry, In Press, 2008

Wang, F., Chen, H., Steketee, J.D. and Sharp, B.M. Selective up-regulation of ionotropic glutamate receptor subunits within mesocorticolimbic regions during chronic nicotine self-administration. Neuropsychopharmacology 32: 103-109, 2007.

Jayaram, P. and Steketee. J.D. Cocaine-induced increases in medial prefrontal cortical GABA transmission involves AMPA receptors. European Journal of Pharmacology 531: 74-79, 2006.

Steketee, J.D. Cortical mechanisms of cocaine sensitization. Critical Reviews in Neurobiology 19: 69-86, 2005.

Steketee, J.D. and Beyer, C.E. Intra-medial prefrontal cortex injections of baclofen blocks the initiation, but not the expression, of cocaine sensitization. Psychopharmacology 180: 352-358, 2005.

Williams, J.M., Stafford, D. and Steketee, J.D. Effects of repeated inhalation of toluene on ionotropic GABAA and glutamate receptor subunit levels in rat brain. Neurochemistry International 46: 1-10, 2005.

Williams, J.M. and Steketee, J.D. Time-dependent effects of repeated cocaine administration on dopamine transmission in the medial prefrontal cortex. Neuropharmacology 48: 51-61, 2005.

Williams, J.M. and Steketee, J.D. Characterization of  dopamine transport in crude synaptosomes prepared from rat medial prefrontal cortex. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 137: 161-165, 2004.

Jayaram, P. and Steketee, J.D. Effects of repeated cocaine on medial prefrontal cortical GABAB receptor modulation of neurotransmission in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system. Journal of Neurochemistry 90: 839-847, 2004.

Williams, J.M. and Steketee, J.D. Cocaine increases medial prefrontal cortical glutamate overflow in cocaine sensitized animals: a time course study. European Journal of Neuroscience 20: 1639-1646, 2004.