Research Interests

Dr Fanselow's laboratory uses rat and mouse models employing anatomical, pharmacological and genetic alterations to understand the neurobiology of basic motivational, emotional and learning systems. He is particularly interested in fear and anxiety and how it interacts with pain and illness –induced recuperative behavior. Fear is a coordinated system involving the amygdala and periaqueductal gray that is organized to protect against environmental threats. When it is activated it

engages opioid mediated analgesic systems to inhibit recuperative behavior. Cytokine activation engages recuperative behavior that while beneficial to recovery, can interfere with overt defenses. The balance between these systems is controlled by glutamatergic, GABAergic and opioidergic neurotransmission in specific neural circuits.

Current research

Anterograde Amnesia for Contextual Fear NIMH R01 MH62122-02 active
Principal Investigator: Michael S. Fanselow
Period: 9/1/01-8/31/05
The major goal of this project is to determine how neocortical systems can compensate for the amnesia produced by hippocampal damage. If this project is funded there is no overlap with any of the other projects.

Center for the Study of Opioid Receptors and Drugs of Abuse DA-05010 Active
Center Director: C. J. Evans. (M. Fanselow Component and Core PI)
Period: 8/1/02-7/31/07
The major goal of this project is to determine the hippocampal contributions to context dependent-opiate tolerance and to define the contribution of opioid receptors to the regulation of fear conditioning using genetically modified mouse models.

Retrograde Amnesia for Trace Fear Conditioning
Principal Investigator: Michael S. Fanselow
Agency: NSF Period: 9/01/01-8/31/04
The major goal of this project is to characterize the role of the hippocampus in trace fear conditioning.

Recent publications

Petrie J, Sapp DW, Tyndale RF, Park MK, Fanselow MS, Olsen RW. Altered GABA(A) receptor subunit and splice variant expression in rats treated with chronic intermittent ethanol. Alcoholism-Clinical and Experimental Research, 25, 819-828, 2001.

Wiltgen, B. J., Sanders, M. J., Behne, N. S., & Fanselow, M. S. Sex differences. Context preexposure, and the immediate shock deficit in Pavlovian context conditioning with mice. Behavioral Neuroscience, 115, 26-32, 2001.

Fanselow, M. S. Contextual fear, gestalt memories, and the hippocampus. Behavioural Brain Research, 110, 73-81, 2000.

Fanselow, M. S., & Gale, G. D. Amygdala. In G. Fink (ed.), Encyclopedia of Stress, 1, 178-182. San Diego: Academic Press, 2000.

Godsil, B. P., Quinn, J. J., & Fanselow, M. S. Body temperature as a conditional response measure for Pavlovian fear conditioning. Learning & Memory, 7, 353-356, 2000.

Fendt, M. & Fanselow, M. S. The neuroanatomical and neurochemical basis of conditioned fear. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 23, 743-760, 1999.

Li, H. H., Yu, W.-H., Rozengurt, N., Zhao, H.-Z., Lyons, K. M., Anagnostaras, S., Fanselow, M. S., Suzuki, K., Vanier, M. T., Neufeld, E. F. Mouse model of Sanfilippo syndrome type B produced by targeted disruption of the gene encoding alpha -N-acetylglucosaminidase Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 96, 14505-14510, 1999.
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/96/25/14505

Mihalek, R. M., Banerjee, P. K., Korpi, E. R., Quinlan, J. J., Firestone, L. L., Mi, Z.-P., Lagenaur, C., Tretter, V., Sieghart, W., Anagnostaras, S. G., Sage, J. R., Fanselow, M. S., Guidotti, A., Spigelman, I., Li, Z., DeLorey, T. M., Olsen, R. W., Homanics, G. E. Attenuated sensitivity to neuroactive steroids in gamma -aminobutyrate type A receptor delta subunit knockout mice Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA., 96, 12905-12910, 1999.

DeLorey, T. M., Handforth, A., Anagnostaras, S. G., Homanics, G. E., Minassian, B. A., Asatourian, A., Fanselow, M. S., Delgado-Escueta, A., Ellison, G. D., & Olsen, R. W. Mice Lacking the beta 3 Subunit of the GABAA Receptor Have the Epilepsy Phenotype and Many of the Behavioral Characteristics of Angelman Syndrome. Journal of Neuroscience, 18, 8505-8514, 1998.

Bolles, R.C. & Fanselow, M.S. A perceptual-defensive-recuperative model of fear and pain. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 3, 291-301, 1980.

Michael S. Fanselow, Ph.D.
UCLA Learning and Memory Project
Department of Psychology
Box 951563
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563
On-campus mail: 8548 Franz Hall 156304
Tel: (310) 206-3891
Fax: (310) 206-5895
E-mail:
Web: www.psych.ucla.edu/fanselowlab