William E. Fantegrossi, Ph.D.
Research conducted in my lab focuses on the in vivo pharmacology of serotonergic drugs of abuse. We are particularly interested in “emerging” street drugs, including designer hallucinogens and MDMA analogues. Rodent models of drug discrimination, intravenous drug self-administration, locomotor activity, PET neuroimaging and assays of drug-elicited behavior are employed in order to better understand the neuropharmacology of these drugs of abuse, as well as to probe biological mechanisms of drug dependence. Non-human primate models of intravenous drug self-administration and PET neuroimaging are also used in order to study the persistent effects of abused drugs on neurochemistry and behavior. Efforts to establish ex vivo and in vivo assays for the identification of agonist-specific signaling and inverse agonist efficacy at serotonin 5-HT2A receptors are also underway.
Selected Publications
Weerts EM, Fantegrossi WE, Goodwin AK: The value of nonhuman primates in drug abuse research. Exp. Clin. Psychopharmacol. 15:309-27, 2007.
Yarosh HL, Katz EB, Coop A, Fantegrossi WE: MDMA-like behavioral effects of N-substituted piperazines in the mouse. Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. 88:18-27, 2007.
Kalechstein AD, De La Garza R, Mahoney JJ, Fantegrossi WE, Newton TF: MDMA use and neurocognition: a meta-analytic review. Psychopharmacology 189:531-537, 2007.
Fantegrossi WE: Reinforcing effects of methylenedioxy amphetamine congeners in rhesus monkeys: are intravenous self-administration experiments relevant to MDMA neurotoxicity? Psychopharmacology 189:471-82, 2007.