PhD Randall L Commissaris

1976 BS, Alma College , Alma , Michigan Pharmaceutical Sciences
1981 PhD, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
1981 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine , New Haven , CT

1. Commissaris, R.L. Conflict behaviors as animal models for the study of anxiety. In, Methods in Behavioral Pharmacology , F. vanHaaren (Ed.), Elsevier Science Publishers ( Amsterdam ), 443-474, 1993.
2. Fontana , D.J., Carbary, T.J. and Commissaris, R.L. Effects of acute and chronic anti-panic drug administration on conflict behavior in the rat. Psychopharmacology 98 :157-162, 1989.
3. Verbanac, J.S., Commissaris, R.L., Altman, H.J. and Pitts, D.K. Electrophysiological characteristics of locus coeruleus neurons in genetically-inbred anxious and non-anxious rat strains. Neuroscience Letters 179:137-140, 1994.
4. Verbanac, J.S., Commissaris, R.L. and Pitts, D.K. An electrophysiological evaluation of serotonergic dorsal raphe neurons in Maudsley rats. Life Sciences 58: 245-250, 1996.
5. Fontana , D.J., McMiller, L.V. and Commissaris, R.L. Depletion of brain noradrenaline: Differential influence on anxiolytic treatment effects. Psychopharmacology 143(2): 197-208, 1999.

The overall aim of studies in Dr. Commissaris' laboratory is to further our understanding of the neuroanatomical sites and neuropharmacological mechanisms for the actions of drugs and other chemicals on behavior. For many years, Dr. Commissaris' laboratory has been studying the effects of drugs of abuse and drugs used in psychiatry, with a particular emphasis on drugs used in the treatment of anxiety and depression. More recently, Dr. Commissaris' laboratory has begun studies investigating the behavioral effects of in utero and perinatal exposure to ethanol and environmental compounds such as lead.