Jacqueline McGinty, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Physiology & Neuroscience,
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC.

Phone: (843) 792-9036
Fax: (843) 792-4423
Email: mcginty@musc.edu

Education:

B.S. Connecticut College, 1972;
Ph.D., SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 1978

Research Interests:

My research focuses on (1) the effects of drugs of abuse on neurotransmiter release and gene expression in the rat brain and (2) the effects of methamphetamine neurotoxicity in neurotrophic factor knockout mice during aging. Using in vivo microdialysis, my lab has demonstrated that endogenous opioid and muscarinic systems decrease the psychostimulant-induced release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and glutamate in the striatum. By affecting intracellular kinase cascades in neurons which express dopamine and glutamate receptors, we have demonstrated that psychostimulants change the activity of nuclear transcription factors and the expression of their target genes.

Currently we are using cDNA microarray technology, in situ hybridization, immunoblotting, and immunohistochemistry to characterize changes in gene expression that may signify longterm neuroadaptations in the brain thought to underlie drug addiction and neurotoxicity during aging.

Selected Recent Publications:

Choe, ES, McGINTY, JF. NMDA receptors and p38MAP kinase are required for cAMP-dependent CREB and Elk-1 phosphorylation in the striatum of rats. Neuroscience 2000; 101: 607-617.

Toda S, McGinty JF, Kalivas PW. Repeated cocaine administration alters the expression of genes in corticolimbic circuitry after a 3-week withdrawal: a DNA macroarray study. J Neurochem. 2002;82:1290-1299.

Gonzalez-Nicolini, V and McGINTY, JF. Gene Expression profile from the striatum of amphetamine-treated rats: a cDNA array and in situ hybridization histochemical study. Gene Expression Patterns 2002; 1: 193-198.

Gonzalez-Nicolini, MV, Berglind, W, Cole , KS , Keogh, CL, McGINTY, JF. Local mu and delta opioid receptors regulate amphetamine-induced behavior and neuropeptide mRNA in the striatum. Neuroscience 2003; 121: 387-398.