Dr. Subhash Pandey is a nationally and internationally well-known neuroscientist in the alcohol addiction field and has contributed significantly towards a better understanding of the neurobiology of alcoholism. Two striking features of alcohol addiction are the rapid onset of tolerance to the acute effects of alcohol and the development of ethanol withdrawal symptoms after cessation of protracted ethanol consumption. Predisposition to alcohol abuse may also involve abnormalities in the signaling cascade pathways that ultimately lead to abnormal gene transcription patterns in the specific neural circuitry of the brain. The long-term goal of Dr. Pandey's alcohol research program is to elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanisms (cAMP responsive element binding protein (CREB) gene transcription factor and CREB-related genes) involved in anxiety, alcohol dependence and/or alcohol drinking behaviors so as to eventually provide a basis for designing drugs to treat alcohol abuse and anxiety disorders. Changes in CREB function may also lead to changes in synaptic structures, such as dendritic spines in the brain, during ethanol exposure and its withdrawal. Dr. Pandey's lab has also involved in investigating the epigenetic mechanisms (chromatin remodeling) of anxiety and alcohol addiction. An additional area of Dr. Pandey's interest is to identify the molecular and cellular mechanisms that are operative in the interactions between ethanol and nicotine. It is possible that alcohol and nicotine may share common molecular mechanisms in common neurocircuitry involved in producing behaviors related to co-abuse of smoking and drinking. Some of his work has been highlighted by National Institutes of Health:

http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/NewsEvents/NewsReleases/anxiety1005.htm
http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/NewsEvents/NewsReleases/chromatin.htm

Representative Publications

1. Subhash C. Pandey, Ugale R, Zhang H, Tang L, Prakash A (2008) Brain chromatin remodeling: a novel mechanism of alcoholism. J Neurosci 28: 3729-3737.

2. Subhash C. Pandey, Zhang H, Ugale R, Prakash A, Xu T, Misra K (2008) Effector immediate-early gene Arc in the amygdala plays a critical role in alcoholism. J Neurosci 28:2589-2600.

3. Prakash A, Zhang H, Subhash C. Pandey (2008) Innate differences in the expression of Brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the specific circuitry of extended amygdala of alcohol preferring (P) and non-preferring (NP) rats. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 32:909-920.

4. Subhash C. Pandey, Zhang H, Roy A, Misra K (2006) Central and medial amygdaloid brain-derived neurotrophic factor signaling plays a critical role in alcohol-drinking and anxiety-like behaviors. J Neuroscience 26:8320-8331.

5. Misra K, Subhash C. Pandey(2006) The decreased cyclic-AMP dependent-protein kinase A function in the nucleus accumbens: a role in alcohol drinking but not in anxiety-like behaviors in rats. Neuropsychopharmacology 31:1406-1419.

6. Subhash C. Pandey, Zhang H, Roy A, Xu T (2005) Deficits in amygdaloid cAMP-responsive element-binding protein signaling play a role in genetic predisposition to anxiety and alcoholism. J Clin Investigation 115:2762-2773.

7. Subhash C. Pandey, Roy A, Zhang H (2004) Partial deletion of the CREB gene promotes alcohol-drinking behaviors. J Neuroscience 24:5022-5030.

8. Subhash C. Pandey (2004) CREB gene transcription factor: role in positive and negative affective states of alcohol addiction. Pharmacology and Therapeutics 104:47-58

9. Subhash C. Pandey (2003) Anxiety and alcohol abuse disorders: a common role for CREB and its target, the neuropeptide Y gene. Trends Pharmacological Sciences 24:456-460.

10. Subhash C. Pandey, Roy A, Zhang H (2003) The decreased phosphorylation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) response element binding (CREB) protein in the central amygdala acts as a molecular substrate for anxiety related to ethanol withdrawal in rats. Alcohol: Clin Exp Res 27:396-409.