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Galen R. Wenger, Ph.D.
Professor and Vice Chair

Galen R. Wenger, Ph.D.
PHD
West Virginia University, 1971

Research Interests
My laboratory has studied drug effects on aspects of cognitive function in laboratory animals for over 20 years. Currently the laboratory effort is focused on two NIH-funded projects. In the first project I am examining the relationship between substance abuse and learning and memory. This project involves an examination of the relationship of alcohol preference and cognitive function in rats that have been selectively bred to exhibit a high alcohol to water preference or a low alcohol to water preference. If an association between cognitive function and alcohol preference is demonstrated it will suggest possible cognitive mechanisms that may lead to drug abuse patterns in humans. The second project involves an examination of cognitive function in a mouse model of Down syndrome. The goals of this project are to fully document the cognitive phenotype of this mouse model and to examine the ability of drugs that have are used clinically in the treatment of human cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Demonstration of drug induced improvements in cognitive function in the mouse model will suggest possible treatment avenues for Down syndrome patients. Finally, the laboratory still maintains an active interest in the effects of drugs of abuse on cognitive function.

E-mail
wengergalenr@uams.edu


Selected Publications

Sanders, N.C., Williams, D.K., and Wenger, G.R.: Does the learning deficit observed under an Incremental Repeated Acquisition schedule of reinforcement in Ts65Dn mice, a model for Down syndrome, change as they age? Behav. Brain Res. In press, 2009.

Scott-McKean, J.J., Wenger, G.R., Tecott, L.H., and Costa, A.C.S.: 5HT1A receptor null mutant mice responding under a differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate 72-second schedule of reinforcement. The Open Neuropsychopharmacology Journal 1:24-32, 2008

Dowdy-Sanders, N.C. and Wenger, G.R.: Working memory in the Ts65Dn mouse, a model for Down syndrome. Behav. Brain Res. 168: 349-352, 2006.

Wenger, G.R., Schmidt, C. and Davisson, M.T.: Operant conditioning in the Ts65Dn mouse: Learning. Behav. Genetics 34: 105-119, 2004.

Lemmonds, C.A. and Wenger, G.R.: Effects of drugs of abuse and signal predictability in two models of sustained attention in pigeons. Behav. Pharmacol. 14: 279-294, 2003.

View Dr. Wenger's PubMed publication list.


University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology

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