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P03. Role Of Prefrontal Cortical Dopamine Transmission In Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Opiate Addiction Vulnerability, Jingjing Li

Western Research Forum

Background

PTSD and opiate addiction share strong co-morbidity and the inability to suppress obtrusive memory recall related to either stressful or rewarding experiences may be an underlying neuropsychological feature triggering PTSD and/or addiction. Our previous research has shown that dopamine (DA) transmission in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) strongly modulates emotional memory formation: activation of the DA D4 receptor (D4R) strongly potentiates the emotional salience of normally non-salient fear memories whereas DA D1 receptor (D1R) activation blocks the behavioural recall of fear memory. Thus, while intra-PFC D4 transmission strongly controls the acquisition of emotional memory, D1 transmission is selectively involved in …

Pulmonary Surfactant Fortified With Cath-2 As A Novel Therapy For Bacterial Pneumonia, Brandon J. Baer

Western Research Forum

Background: Bacterial pneumonia is a leading cause of death worldwide, with high mortality rates persisting even after antibiotic treatment. Current treatments for pneumonia involve administration of antibiotics, however after the bacteria are killed they release toxic substances that induce inflammation and lung dysfunction. Host defense peptides represent a potential solution to this problem through their ability to down regulate inflammation. However, effective delivery to the lung is difficult because of the complex branching structure of the airways. My study addresses this delivery problem by using exogenous surfactant, a pulmonary delivery vehicle capable of improving spreading of these peptides throughout the …