Associate Professor, Psychiatry University of Pittsburgh Phone: 412-383-6200 Fax: 412-383-6799 Email: bradberrycw@upmc.edu

Ph. D., University of Kansas, Biochemistry

Research Interests

My primary research interest is to utilize animal models relevant to human patterns of drug use to understand the addictive and rewarding properties of drugs of abuse. I have chosen to pursue these interests in non-human primates because of their similarity to humans in terms of brain size, structure, and function. A primary ongoing project is to examine the acute and chronic neurochemical effects of self-administered cocaine in mesocorticolimbic circuits in rhesus monkeys. These studies have resulted in a better understanding of the neurochemical consequences of recreational cocaine consumption. In addition to the direct effects of self-administered cocaine, we are also examining the effects of cocaine-associated environmental cues. Because cue-induced craving is believed to increase the likelihood of relapse, it is especially important to understand what neurochemical events are associated with cue-induced drug-seeking behavior. It remains a widely held assumption that conditioning results in activated dopaminergic neurotransmission in response to cues associated with cocaine. However, our results from rhesus monkeys actively engaged in drug-seeking behavior indicate no such increases in mesolimbic striatum, and thus question a widely presumed construct in the field of drug abuse.

Another major project is the preclinical pursuit of agonist approaches (i.e. using compounds with some properties similar to cocaine) for cocaine dependence, focusing on cocaethylene as a model compound. Human laboratory studies indicate this compound produces less euphoria and cardiovascular effects than equivalent doses of cocaine, and my laboratory has previously demonstrated a rapid tolerance to the behavioral and neurochemical effects of cocaethylene in rodents. This tolerance crosses over to cocaine as well, i.e. pretreatment with cocaethylene reduces the effects of cocaine. Thus, cocaethylene is a good model compound for further studies of an agonist approach in non-human primates. Because of ongoing investigations of cocaethylene in human laboratory studies, our studies on the behavioral and neurochemical effects of cocaethylene in non-human primates offers an unusual opportunity for insight into the neurochemical basis of cocaine reward and increased understanding of the efficacy and mechanisms of agonist approaches to treatment of cocaine dependence.

Recent Publications

• Bradberry CW: Cocaine sensitization and dopamine mediation of cue effects in rodents, monkeys, and humans: Areas of agreement, disagreement, and implications for addiction. Psychopharmacology 191: 705-717, 2007.
• Bradberry CW, Rubino SR: Dopaminergic responses to self-administered cocaine in rhesus monkeys do not sensitize following high cumulative exposure. Eur J Neurosci 23: 2773-2778, 2006.
• Bradberry CW, Rubino SR: Phasic alterations in dopamine and serotonin release in striatum and prefrontal cortex in response to cocaine predictive cues in behaving rhesus macaques. Neuropsychopharmacology 29: 676-685, 2004.
• Adams BW, Bradberry CW, Moghaddam B: NMDA antagonist effects on striatal dopamine release: Microdialysis studies in awake monkeys. Synapse 18: 12-18, 2002.
• Bradberry CW: Dose-dependent effect of ethanol on extracellular dopamine in mesolimbic striatum of awake rhesus monkeys: Comparison across individuals: Psychopharmacology 165: 67-76, 2002.
• Bradberry CW: Dynamics of extracellular dopamine in the acute and chronic actions of cocaine. Neuroscientist 8(4): 315-322, 2002.
• Liu, S, Heitz RP, Sampson AR, Zhang W, Bradberry CW: Evicence of temporal cortical dysfunction in rhesus monkeys following chronic cocaine self-administration. Cereb Cortex, in press.