Indiana University
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The Gill Center for Biomolecular Science

George V. Rebec

George V. RebecChancellor’s Professor and Director, Program in Neuroscience

Office: Psychology 361
TEL: 855-4832
Email: rebec@indiana.edu

Lab Website

Education

  • A.B., Villanova University, 1971
  • M.A., University of Colorado, 1974
  • Ph.D., University of Colorado, 1975

Research Interests

  • neurodegenerative disease
  • neural mechanisms of addiction
  • neurobehavioral and neurochemical correlates of information processing

Research in my laboratory centers on the neurochemical correlates of behavior. We are especially interested in the neurochemistry of the basal ganglia and related limbic nuclei, which have been implicated in drug abuse as well as basic behavioral processes such as movement and motivation. To assess how these brain systems operate under naturally occurring conditions, we use electrophysiological (single-unit recording and iontophoresis) and neurochemical (microdialysis and voltammetry) techniques to measure neurotransmitter function at the neuronal level during behavior. Our primary focus is the role of dopamine in modulating afferent information, especially glutamate-mediated excitations arising from cerebrocortical neurons. Current projects are aimed at identifying: 1) the neuronal processing in pre-limbic and infra-limbic areas of prefrontal cortex during cocaine-seeking behavior and relapse; 2) the receptor mechanisms by which dopamine interacts with glutamate and other transmitters to modulate information flow through neuronal circuits; 3) the role of dopaminergic neurons in goal-directed behavior; 4) how modulation of glutamate transmission by ascorbate, a water-soluble vitamin, influences movement and neuronal activity; and 5) neuroadaptations and neurodysfunction in Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases.

Representative Publications

  • Rebec, G.V. and Wang, Z. (2001). Behavioral activation in rats require endogenous ascorbate release in striatum. Journal of Neuroscience, 21: 668-675.
  • Rebec, G.V., Barton, S.J., and Ennis, M.D. (2002). Dysregulation of ascorbate in the striatum of behaving mice expressing the Huntington’s disease gene. Journal of Neuroscience, 22: RC202 (1-5).
  • Garris, P.A. and Rebec, G.V. (2002). Modeling fast dopamine neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbens during behavior. Behavioural Brain Research, 137: 47-63.
  • Sun, W.L. and Rebec, G.V. (2003). Lidocaine inactivation of ventral subiculum attenuates cocaine-seeking behavior in rats. Journal of Neuroscience, 23: 10258-10264.
  • Sun, W.L. and Rebec, G.V. (2005). The role of prefrontal cortex D1-lik,e and D2-like receptors in cocaine-seeking behavior in rats. Psychopharmacology, 177: 315-323.
  • Rebec, G.V., Witowski, S.R., Sandstrom, M.I., Rostand, R.D., and Kennedy, R.T. (2005). Extracellular ascorbate modulates cortically evoked glutamate dynamics in rat striatum. Neuroscience Letters, 378: 166-170.
  • Wood, D.A., Buse, J.E., Wellman, C.L., and Rebec, G. V. (2005). Differential environmental exposure alters NMDA but not AMPA receptor subunit expression in nucleus accumbens core and shell. Brain Research, 1042: 176-183.
  • Sun, W.L., Akins, C.K., Mattingly, A.E., and Rebec, G.V. (2005). Ionotropic glutamate receptors in the ventral tegmental area regulate cocaine-seeking behavior in rats. Neuropsychopharmacology,30: 2073-2081.
  • Rebec, G.V. and Sun, W.L. (2005). Neuronal substrates of relapse to cocaine-seeking behavior: role of prefrontal cortex. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 84(3): 653-666.
  • Rebec, G.V., Conroy, S.K., Barton, S.J. (2006). Hyperactive striatal neurons in symptomatic Huntington R6/2 mice: Variations with behavioral state and repeated ascorbate treatment. Neuroscience, 137: 327-336.
  • Wood, D.A., Siegel, A.K., and Rebec, G.V. (2006). Environmental enrichment reduces impulsivity during appetitive conditioning. Physiology and Behavior, 88(1-2): 132-137.
  • Ball, K.T., Budreau, D., and Rebec, G.V. (2006). Context-dependent behavioral and neuronal sensitization in striatum to MDMA (ecstasy) administration in rats. European Journal of Neuroscience, 24: 217-228.
  • Sun, W.L. and Rebec, G.V. (2006). Repeated cocaine self-administration alters processing of cocaine-related information in rat prefrontal cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 26: 8004-8008.
  • Rebec, G.V. (2006). Behavioral electrophysiology of psychostimulants. Neuropsychopharmacology, 31 (11): 2341-2348.
  • Rebec, G.V. (2007). From interferant anion to neuromodulator: ascorbate oxidizes its way to respectability. In: Electrochemical Methods in Neuroscience, Taylor & Francis Group, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
  • Dorner, J.L., Miller, B.R., Barton, S.J., Brock, Tyler J., and Rebec, G.V. (2007). Sex differences in behavior and striatal ascorbate release in the 140 CAG knock-in mouse model of Huntington’s disease. Behavioural Brain Research, 178: 90-97.
  • Teagarden, M.A. and Rebec, G.V. (2007). Subthalamic and striatal neurons concurrently process motor, limbic, and associative information in rats performing an operant task. Journal of Neurophysiology, 97: i>2042-2058.
  • Sandstrom, M.I. and Rebec, G.V. (2007). Extracellular ascorbate modulates glutamate dynamics: role of behavioral activation. BMC Neuroscience, 8: 32.
  • Ball, K.T., Walsh, K.M., and Rebec, G.V. (2007). Reinstatement of MDMA (ecstasy) seeking by exposure to drug-conditioned cues. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior. [Epub ahead of print - available online at www.sciencedirect.com ].