R. Andrew Chambers, M.D.
Assistant Professor - Institute of Psychiatric Research

Office: (317) 278-1716
Fax: (317) 274-1365
Email: robchamb@iupui.edu
   

    My research aims to uncover the neural systems mechanisms underlying substance use disorders comorbidity in mental illness. A guiding theoretical perspective holds that varieties of mental illness reflect characteristic patterns of distributed neurocircuit dysfunction that also produce heightened or prolonged motivational responses to addictive drugs. The primary methodological approach centers on the use of neurobehavioral rat models of psychiatric illness in paradigms measuring endophenotypes of addiction vulnerability and drug intake behavior. Comprehensive neurobehavioral models of schizophrenia and affective-spectrum disorders are chosen by virtue of thier multifaceted behavioral syndromes produced by neurodevelopmental and/or adult onset lesions targeting specific components of cortico-limbic circuitry implicated in human disorders. These models are studied in the context of exposure to one or more of a variety of addictive substances including cocaine, alcohol, and opiates. Some studies will address the periadolescent period of neurodevelopment as a critical period of addiction vulnerability and onset of mental illness. Characterization of co-occuring cognitive, affective and drug-motivational phenotypes are correlated with markers of neurobiological change and plasticity in key regions including the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala and nucleus accumbens. A secondary methodological interest involves the development of computational models of distributed neural systems underlying motivational disturbances in mental illness. These approaches aim to help bridge micro-level (molecular and genetic research) with macro-level (clincal and neuroimaging) studies of dual diagnosis disorders, and ultimately, to inform the development of new treatments for dual diagnosis patients.    

Publications:
Chambers, RA, Krystal, JH, Self, DW. (2001) A neurobiological basis for substance abuse comorbidity in schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 50:2: 71-83.

Chambers, RA, Taylor, JR, Potenza, MN. (2003) Developmental neurocircuitry of motivation in adolescence: a critical period of addiction vulnerability. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160:1041-1052

Chambers, RA, Potenza, MN, Hoffman, RE, Miranker, W. (2004) Simulated Apoptosis/Neurogenesis Regulates Learning and Memory Capabilities of Adaptive Neural Networks. Neuropsychopharmacology 29:747-758.

Chambers, RA, Taylor, JR (2004) Animal modeling dual diagnosis schizophrenia: sensitization to cocaine in rats with neonatal ventral hippocampal lesions.  Biological Psychiatry, 56:308-316. 

Chambers, RA, Jones, RM, Brown, S, Taylor, JR (2005) Natural reward-related learning in rats with neonatal ventral hippocampal lesions and prior cocaine exposure. Psychopharmacology 179: 470-478.

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