Laboratory of  J.M. Johns Ph.D.
 Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
424 Taylor Hall
Chapel Hill,  NC  27599-7096
(919) 966-5961
fax (919) 843-5730
email: jjohns@med.unc.edu

Lab motto:

Take time to think, it is the source of power.
Take time to read, it is the foundation of knowledge.
Take time to laugh, it lightens life's load.
Take time to work, it is the price of success.
Take time to plan, and you will have time for all the rest.

****


Welcome to our home page!

 Speciality areas: behavioral pharmacology, toxicology, teratology, neuroendocrinology.

 

 

Our lab currently studies the effects of cocaine on maternal behavior and aggression as well as the underlying biochemical changes following drug treatment in a rodent model.   In addition, we also assess the behavioral and biochemical effects of prenatal exposure to various substances of abuse including cocaine on the pups of treated rat dams.  Techniques used in the lab range from behavioral to molecular biological and the students often learn from collaborations with other co-investigators working on projects with the lab. 

MEET SOME OF THE MEMBERS OF OUR LAB:
Tom Jarrett - MD/Ph.D. Student
Sarah Williams - Neurobiology Graduate Student
Matthew McMurray - Biopsychology Graduate Student
Elizabeth Cox - Neurobiology Graduate Student
Emily Fay - Undergraduate Reseach Assistant/Honors Student
C.J. Malanga - Associate Professor Child Neurology 

Currently Funded Grants:

1) Cocaine and Maternal Aggression: Oxytocinergic Mechanisms (NIDA) R01-2007

2) Effects of in Utero Cocaine Exposure on Rat Juvenile Brain Structure (UNC NDRC) 2006-2007

3) Intergenerational Effects of  Alcohol/Nicotine Treatment/Exposure on Maternal / Social  behavior, 
Adolescent Alcohol Preference and Oxytocin System Changes in the Rat (UNC Bowles Alcohol Center) 2006-2007

Current Pending Grants:

Prenatal Cocaine Exposure in Rats: Effects on Brain  Structural Development
NIDA - 1R03 
Neurobehavioral and Biological Consequences of Cocaine Use in Mother Infant Dyads
5 Years - $14,500,000
NIDA - 1P01 DA022446

Previously Funded Grants:
Cocaine and Maternal Neglect: Intergenerational Effects
NIDA - 1R01 DA13362

Cardiovascular Benefits of Family Support and Oxytocin
NHLBI/NIDA - 1R01 HL64927

Cocaine and Oxytocin: Maternal Behavior and Aggression
NIDA - R29 DA08456

Effects of  Prenatal Exposure to Cocaine: A Rodent Model of Psychopathology
UNC in house grant


RECENT PAPERS OF INTEREST FROM OUR LAB INCLUDE:

1.  Johns, J.M., McMurray, M. S., Hofler, V.E., Jarrett, T. M., Middleton, C.L.,  Elliott, D. L., Mirza, R., Elliott, J.C, and Walker, C.H. (in press) Cocaine Disrupts Pup-Induced Maternal Behavior in Juvenile and Adult Rats  Neurotoxicology and Teratology.

2.  Jarrett, T.M, McMurray, M.S., Walker, C.H. and Johns, J.M. (2006) Cocaine treatment alters Oxytocin Receptor Binding but not mRNA Production in Postpartum Rat Dams, Neuropeptides,  40 pp 161-167.

3. Johns, J.M., Elliott, D. L, Hofler, V.E., Joyner, P.W., McMurray, M. S., Jarrett, T. M., Haslup, A. M., Middleton, C.L., Elliott, J.C. and Walker, C.H. (2005) Cocaine Treatment and Prenatal Environment Interact to Disrupt Intergenerational Maternal Behavior in Rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 119/6 pp 1605-1618.

4.      Johns, J.M., Joyner, P. W., McMurray, M. S., Elliot, D. A., Hofler, V. E.,  Knupp, K., Greenhill, K. W. and Walker, C. H. (2005) The Effects of Combined Dopaminergic / Serotonergic Reuptake Inhibition on Maternal Behavior, Maternal Aggression, and Oxytocin in the Rat Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior 81/4 pp 769-785.

5. Johns, J.M, Lubin, D.A., Walker, C.H., Joyner, P. W., Middleton, C.L., Hofler, V. E. and McMurray, M. (2004) Gestational Cocaine and Fluoxetine Treatment Upregulates Oxytocin Receptor Number and Lowers Binding Affinity in the Amygdala of Rats on Postpartum Day Six. (Invited article Special Issue: Developmental Aspects of Addiction - Edited by R.M. Booze and C.F. Mactutus) International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, 22/5-6 pp 321-328. 

6.  Light, K.C., Grewen, K.M., Amico, J.A., Boccia, M., Brownley, K. & Johns, J. M. (2004) Deficits in Plasma Oxytocin Responses and Increased Negative Affect, Stress and Blood Pressure in Mothers with Cocaine Exposure during Pregnancy. Addictive Behaviors.

7. Moy, S., Nadler, J., Perez, A., Barbaro, R,  Johns, J., Magnuson, T., Piven, J. and Crawlery, J. (2004). Sociability and Preference for Social Novelty in Five Inbred Strains:  An Approach to Assess Autistic-like Behavior in Mice. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 3: 287-302

8.  Lubin, D.A., Elliott, J.C., Black, M.C.,& Johns, J.M. (2003). An Oxytocin Antagonist Infused into the Central Nucleus of the Amygdala Increases Maternal Aggressive Behavior. Behavioral Neuroscience,117(2): 195-201.

9.  Lubin, D.A., Cannon, J.B., Black, M.C., Brown, L.E., & Johns, J.M.(2003). Effects of Chronic Cocaine on Monoamine Levels in Discrete Brain Structures of Lactating Rat Dams. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 74, 449-454.

10. Phillips, P.E., Johns, J.M., Lubin, D.A., Budygin, E.A., Gainetdinov, R.R. Lieberman, J. A. and Wightman, R. M. (2003) Presynaptic Dopaminergic Function is Largely Unaltered in Mesolimbic and Mesostriatal Terminals of Adult Rats That Were Prenatally Exposed to Cocaine. Brain Research, 961, 63-72.

11.  Johns, J.M., Lubin, D.A., Leiberman, J., and Lauder, J.M. (2002) Developmental Effects of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure on 5-HT1A Receptors in Male and Female Rat Offspring. Developmental Neuroscience, 24, 522-530.

12. Lubin, D.A., Meter, K.E., Walker, C.H. and Johns, J.M. (2001) Dose-Related Effects of Gestational Cocaine Treatment on Maternal Aggression in Rats on Postpartum Days 2, 3 and 5. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry. 25(7), 1421-1433 (Invited paper).

13. Elliott, J.C., Lubin, D.A., Walker, C.H., and Johns, J.M. (2001) Acute Cocaine Alters Oxytocin Levels in the Medial Preoptic Area and Amygdala of Lactating Rat Dams: Implications for Cocaine-Induced Changes in Maternal Behavior and Maternal Aggression. Neuropeptides, 35(2), 127-134.

HERE'S SOME OF OUR ABSTRACTS PRESENTED AT VARIOUS CONFERENCES:

1) Jarrett,  T.M., Walker, C.H., McMurray, M.S., Johns, J.M. (2006) Prenatal cocaine  exposure does not alter central oxytocin receptor or
oxytocin mRNA binding in  postpartum day six rat dams. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts 2006.

2) Williams,  S., Jarrett, T., Lycan, T., McMurray, M., Riday, T., Obispo-Peak, I., Lauder, J., and Johns, J. (2006) Effects of prenatal
cocaine exposure on 5-HT2A receptors in adult rats. Society for Neuroscience  Abstracts 2006.

3) McMurray,  M.S., Jarrett, T.M., Walker,  C.H., and Johns, J.M. (2006) Gestational cocaine treatment alters oxytocin mRNA  production in
rat dams in the early postpartum period. Society for Neuroscience  Abstracts 2006.

4) Johns,  J.M., McMurray, M.S., Jarrett, T.M., and Walker,  C.H. (2006) When Things Go Wrong; Cocaine’s Disruption of
Maternal/Social  Behavior in Rat Dams and their Offspring: The Oxytocin Connection. 
Invited symposium presentation and abstract,  IBNS, Whistler, British Columbia,  CA.

5) McMurray,  M.S., Zeskind, P.S., Moy, C., Jarrett, T.M., and Johns, J.M. (2006) Preliminary  Effects of in Utero Cocaine
Exposure  on Infant Rat Ultrasonic Vocalizations.   IBNS Abstracts, Whistler, British Columbia, CA.

6) Jarrett,  T.M., McMurray, M.S., Walker,  C.H. and Johns, J.M. (2005) Oxytocin receptor binding in the central nervous
system of cocaine, fluoxetine, or saline treated rat dams. Society for Neuroscience  Abstracts 2005.

7) McMurray, M.S., Desmond, B., Jarrett, T.M., Walker, C.H. and Johns,  J.M. (2005) Effects of cocaine treatment on mRNA
expression in the CNS of  postpartum rat dams. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts 2005.

8) McMurray, M.S., Haslup, A., Mirza,  R., Jarrett, T., Walker, C., Rodrigues, T., Hofler, V., and Johns, J.M. (2005) Intergenerational
effects of chronic and intermittent cocaine exposure on  maternal behavior in next generation non-lactating offspring.
Neurotoxicology  and Teratology 27(3): 373.

9) P. W. Joyner, J. M. Johns, M. C. Black, D. A. Elliott, C. L. Middleton, V. E. Hofler, K. W. Greenhill, and J. C. Elliott  (2003).
The Effects of Gestational Cocaine Treatment on Water Competition in Post-Weaning Dams.
Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, 839.14.

10) V. E. Hofler, K. W. Greenhill, C. L. Middleton, K. Knupp, D. A. Elliott,   P. W. Joyner, J. M. Lauder and J. M. Johns (2003).
Effects of neurotransmitter uptake inhibitors on maternal behavior in rats.  Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, 728.6.

11) L.M. Lomas, P.W. Joyner , C. Ardalan, D.A. Lubin, C.L. Middleton, V. Holfler, K. Knupp, R. Goldhammer and J.M. Johns (2002)
A Comparison of the Effects of a Serotonergic and Dopaminergic-Serotonergic Combination
Reuptake Inhibitor on Maternal Aggressive Behavior. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, #90.5.

12) D.A. Lubin, C.L. Middleton, C. Ardalan, R.W. Goldhammer, P.W. Joyner,   L. M. Lomas, V. Holfler, and J.M. Johns (2002)
A Comparison of the Effects of a Dopaminergic and Noradrenergic Reuptake Inhibitor on Maternal Aggressive
Behavior in the Rat.Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, #90.6.

13) J.M. Johns, D. A. Lubin, M. Black, J.C. Elliott, P.W. Joyner, L.M. Lomas, C.L. Middleton, V. Holfler, K. Knupp, R. Goldhammer (2002)
Intergenerational effects of Cocaine on Rodent Maternal Behavior:Preliminary Results. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, #878.17.

14) Johns, J.M Lubin, D.A., Elliott, J.C., Black, M. Joyner, P., Lomas,   L and Middleton, C. (2002)
Cocaine and Maternal Aggression: Intergenerational Effects.
International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, June 21,Capri, Italy.

Take our advice, JUST SAY NO!

                                                                                                        Maui, Hawaii 2007