ISSN: 2329-6488
Takato Hiranita
Editor-in-Chief
Visiting Scientist, Division of Neurotoxicology, National Center for Toxicological Research, Food and Drug Administration
3900 NCTR Road (HFT-132, building 50, room 150), Jefferson, AR 72079-9501, USA
He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology: Pharmaceutical Sciences at Kyushu University, Japan, under the supervision of Dr. Tsuneyuki Yamamoto and has been a postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Jonathan L. Katz at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). He is currently a research associate in the laboratory of Dr. Linda R. Watkins at University of Colorado at Boulder, and conducting experiments at NIDA for a research collaboration under the supervision of Dr. Watkins. Using drug self-administration procedures in rodents and primates and drug discrimination procedures in rodents he has examined novel dopamine uptake inhibitors as potential medications to treat cocaine abuse. In addition, he found that cocaine self-administration is decreased by combined treatment with the dopamine uptake inhibitors and antagonists at the σ receptor which may shed light on the mechanisms underlying the intractability of stimulant abuse.
His research interests include Dual inhibition hypothesis as a target for cocaine abuse medications, dual σR/DAT inhibitions, Role of specific receptors in food reinforcement mechanisms and Role of The ATP receptor subtypes in the reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse.