Name Lucianne Groenink, PhD
Department Psychopharmacology
Section Behavioural phenotyping and genomics
Function
Associate professor
E-mail:
l.groenink@uu.nl Tel: +31 30-2534549
Research group Meg Breuer, PhD student,
Liesbeth Bijlsma, PhD student,
Christiaan Vinkers, PhD student,
Monika Verdouw, Technician
Title research line Mechanisms underlying affective disorders
Summary research
The aim of the research line ‘Mechanisms underlying affective disorders’ is target finding and target evaluation for the treatment of anxiety/depression and psychosis. To this end my group studies how differences between adaptation, maladaption and recovery are set about in the central nervous system. Within this broad concept we focus on the detrimental effect of excess CRF (corticotropin releasing factor) in the brain. We use pharmacological tools, neuroendocrinology, microdialysis and molecular techniques to study the effects of CRF on behaviour and on information processing. Similar techniques are applied to investigate the interaction of CRF with other neurotransmitter systems. An important read-out in this research line is the acoustic startle response. This startle response is a cross species phenomenon, and is therefore ideally suited for translational research in the field of psychopharmacology (especially anxiety, depression and psychosis). This multidisciplinary approach not only contributes to the development of novel targets for disease treatment but also adds to the knowledge on how emotional behaviour is regulated.
Publications Breuer ME, Groenink L, Oosting RS, Westenberg HG, Olivier B (2007) Long-Term behavioral changes after cessation of chronic antidepressant treatment in olfactory bulbectomized rats Biol Psychiatry 61(8):990-5
de Jongh R, Geyer MA, Olivier B, Groenink L (2005). The effects of sex and neonatal maternal separation on fear-potentiated and light-enhanced startle. Behav Brain Research 161, 190-196.
Groenink L, Dirks A, Verdouw PM, de Graaff M, Peeters BW, Millan MJ, Olivier B (2008) CRF1 not glucocorticoid receptors mediate prepulse inhibition deficits in mice overexpressing CRF. Biol Psychiatry 63(4):360-8
Kasahara M, Groenink L, Breuer M, Olivier B, Sarnyai Z (2007) Altered behavioural adaptation in mice with neural corticotrophin-releasing factor overexpression. Genes Brain Behav 6(7):598-607.
Vinkers CH, van Bogaert MJV, Klanker M, Korte SM, Oosting R, Hanania T, Hopkins S, Olivier B, Groenink L (2008) Translational aspects of pharmacological research into anxiety disorders: the stress-induced hyperthermia (SIH) paradigm. Eur J Pharmacol 585(2-3):407-25.