Venue: Centre Broca
Megan E Fox, PhD.
Assistant Professor and Garfield B. Russell Career Development Professor in Medical Education
Department of Anesthesiology,
Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics,
Penn State College of Medicine
Pennsylvania State University
Invited by Michel Engeln (INCIA)
Title
Molecular mechanisms underlying risk and resilience to opioid seeking
Abstract
The neurobiological mechanisms that confer vulnerability or resilience to opioid use disorder remain incompletely understood. Our work examines how individual differences in circuit function and stress sensitivity shape opioid seeking and relapse-like behavior, integrating molecular, circuit-based, and behavioral approaches in mice. Recent findings from our lab reveal that alterations in dopamine D1 receptor–expressing medium spiny neurons can profoundly influence fentanyl seeking without broadly disrupting reward learning or drug intake. These differences are accompanied by changes in dopamine receptor signaling, gene expression, dendritic complexity, and circuit function. Ongoing work extends these observations to show that stress exposure and stress susceptibility interact with mesolimbic circuitry to further influence opioid-related behaviors, highlighting stress as a key modulator of individual risk and resilience.