Suzanne Erb

Associate Professor
Office: (416) 287-7454
Lab: (416) 287-5612
e-mail: erb@utsc.utoronto.ca website: www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~erb/



Research Focus

My general research interests concern the neurobiology of relapse to drug seeking and the interface between neurobiology and behavior in the study of substance abuse. I am particularly interested in how the brain changes at neurotransmitter system and gene expression levels as a consequence of a history of drug exposure, and how these changes are manifest in behavior. Although a number of significant neurobiological changes occur in the early stages of drug withdrawal (first several days), it is the potential for enduring, long-term changes (those that persist or may only emerge after weeks or months of withdrawal), and how these changes may render a former user vulnerable to episodes of relapse, that is of particular interest to me.

Related interests concern how drug experience affects an animal’s neurobiological and behavioral responses to stress (physical, emotional, or pharmacological) following prolonged drug-free periods, how these responses differ from those exhibited by a drug-naïve animal, and what implications any observed differences between drug-experienced and -naïve animals may have for understanding the relationship between stress and relapse to drug seeking. Thus, a further aspect of my research interests relates to the interaction between stress and drug effects and, more specifically, the relationship between stress and relapse to drug seeking.



Current Research Projects

  1. Role of stress-related neuropeptides in relapse to cocaine seeking.

  2. Long-lasting effects of cocaine exposure on behavioural responses to corticotropin-releasing factor. Behavioural measures include locomotor activity, anxiety, and place conditioning (in collaboration with F. Leri, University of Guelph).

  3. Long-lasting effects of cocaine exposure on basal and stress-induced gene expression in the limbic forebrain and frontal cortex.



Research Opportunities

I will be considering graduate student applications for admittance to the Psychology program in September 2005. I do not currently have positions available for undergraduate students. However, undergraduate students interested in doing a thesis or supervised study in the lab in the 2005-2006 academic year are invited to contact me.



Recent Publications

  • Erb, S, Placenza, F. Relapse. In: Olmstead, CM, ed. Animal Models of Drug Addiction. Humana Press. (Submitted, Invited)

  • Brown, ZA, Tribe, E, DĄŻSouza, N, Erb, S (2008) Interaction between noradrenaline and corticotropin releasing factor in the reinstatement of cocaine seeking in the rat. Psychopharmacology, in press.

  • Kupferschmidt, DA, Tribe, E, Erb, S (2008) Effects of repeated yohimbine on the extinction and reinstatement of cocaine seeking. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, 91: 473-80.

  • Brown, ZJ, Erb S (2007) Footshock stress reinstates cocaine seeking in rats after extended post-stress delays. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 195 (1), 61-70.

  • Erb, S (2006) Stress and risk for relapse. In: AlĄŻAbsi, M, ed. Stress and addiction: Biological and Psychological Mechanisms. Oxford, UK: Academic Press, Elsevier, 147-167 (invited).

  • Erb, S, Kayyali, H, Romero, K. (2006) A study of the lasting effects of cocaine pre-exposure on anxiety-like behaviors under baseline conditions and in response to central injections of corticotropin releasing factor. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 85(1):206-13.

  • Erb, S, Brown, ZJ (2006) A role for corticotropin-releasing factor in the long-term expression of behavioural sensitization to cocaine. Behavioral Brain Research, 172, 360-4.

  • Placenza, F, Vaccarino, FJ, Fletcher, PJ, Erb, S. (2006) Blockade of central neurokinin-1 receptors has differential effects on opiate- and cocaine-induced locomotor activity and self-administration behavior . Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, 84, 94-101.

  • Erb, S, Petrovic, A, Yi, D, Kayyali, H (2006) Central injections of CRF reinstate cocaine seeking in rats after post-injection delays of up to 3 hours: An influence of time and environmental context. Psychopharmacology, 187, 112-20.

  • Placenza, FM, Vaccarino, FJ, Fletcher, PJ, Erb, S. (2005) Activation of central neurokinin-1 receptors induces reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behaviour. Neuroscience Letters, 390:42-7.

  • Lopak, V., Erb, S. (2005) Activation of central neurotensin receptors reinstates cocaine seeking in the rat: Modulation by a D1/D5, but not D2/D3, receptor antagonist. Psychopharmacology, 12:1-8.

  • Erb, S, Funk, D., Le, AD. (2005) Parallel effects of cocaine pre-exposure on CRF-induced c-fos mRNA expression in the central nucleus of the amygdala and CRF-induced locomotor activity. Neuroscience Letters, 383(3):209-14.

  • Jovanovski, D., Erb, S., & Zakzanis, K.K. (2005) Neurocognitive deficits in cocaine users: A quantitative review of the evidence. The Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 27, 189-204.

  • Erb, S., Lopak, V., Smith, C. (2004) Cocaine pre-exposure produces a sensitized and context-specific c-fos mRNA response to footshock stress in the central nucleus of the amygdala. Neuroscience, 129, 719-25.

  • Erb S, Funk D, Borkowski S, Watson SJ, Akil H. (2004) Effects of chronic cocaine exposure on corticotropin-releasing hormone binding protein in the central nucleus of the amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Neuroscience, 123: 1003-1009.

  • Erb, S., Funk, D., & Le, AD (2003) Prior, repeated exposure to cocaine potentiates locomotor responsivity to central injections of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in rats. Psychopharmacology, 170: 383-389.

  • Erb, S. (2002) Addicted to stress. Canadian Chemical News/LĄŻActualite Chimique Canadienne, 54: 23-25 (invited).

  • Erb, S, Shaham, Y, Stewart, J. (2001) Stress-induced relapse to drug seeking in the rat: role of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and amygdala. Stress, 4: 289-303.

  • Erb, S, Salmaso, N, Rodaros, D, Stewart, J (2001) A role for the CRF-containing pathway from central nucleus of the amygdala to bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in the stress-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking in rats. Psychopharmacology, 158: 360-365.

  • Shaham, Y., Erb, S., & Stewart, J. (2000) Stress-induced relapse to heroin and cocaine seeking in rats: a review. Brain Research Reviews, 33: 13-33.

  • Erb, S., Hitchcott, P.K., Rajabi, H., Mueller, D., Shaham, Y. & Stewart, J. (2000) Alpha-2 adrenergic receptor agonists block stress-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking. Neuropsychopharmacology, 23, 138-150.



Teaching

  • Behavioural Modification: Origins and applications
  • Drugs and the Brain