main faculty

Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychology. Concordia University Research Chair.

Research
My research is concerned with the motivational effects of drugs of abuse and with the long-term effects of repeated exposure to opioid and stimulant drugs on brain and behavior

Research in my laboratory can be divided into three general areas. The first concerns the study the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie relapse to drug-taking in laboratory animals. The work is aimed at specifying how conditioned stimuli and long-lasting changes in the neurochemical and behavioral effects of drugs act to induce relapse to drug-taking in experienced animals. We use behavioral methods combined with in vivo microdialysis to measure monoamines released in response to drug and to stressors.

A second, related area of study is concerned with specifying the mechanisms that lead to long-lasting neurochemical changes that underlie sensitization to the behavioral activating effects of drugs of abuse. Here we are studying the role of neurotrophic factors in the development of these long-lasting changes. We use behavioral methods combined with immunocytochemistry and tissue assay methods to measure changes in protein levels in the brain.

The third area of research is concerned with the role of steroid hormones and neurotrophic factors in development. In particular, we are concerned with the effects of early insults on the development of the mesolimbic dopaminergic systems and lasting effects on vulnerability of that system.

Finally in collaboration with Shimon Amir I am studying plasticity within the circadian system.

Selected Publications

Reviews

Stewart, J. (2008) Review. Psychological and neural mechanisms of relapse. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, ‘B’, Biological Sciences, 363, 3147-3158.

Stewart, J. (2004) Pathways to relapse: factors controlling the reinitiation of drugseeking after abstinence. Nebr Symp Motiv. 50, 197-234. [abstract]

Stewart, J. (2003) Stress and relapse to drug seeking: studies in laboratory animals shed light on mechanisms and sources of long-term vulnerability. Am J Addict. 12(1),1-17. [abstract]

Leri, F., Bruneau, J., & Stewart, J. (2003) Understanding polydrug use: review of heroin and cocaine co-use. Addiction. 98(1), 7-22. [abstract]

Shaham, Y., Shalev, U., Lu, L., De Wit, H., & Stewart, J. (2003) The reinstatement model of drug relapse: history, methodology and major findings. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 168(1-2), 3-20. [abstract] [PDF]

Stewart, J. (2000) Pathways to relapse: the neurobiology of drug- and stress-induced relapse to drug taking. J Psychiatry Neurosci. 25(2), 125-136. [abstract]

Shaham, Y., Erb, S., & Stewart, J.(2000) Stress-induced relapse to heroin and cocaine seeking in rats: a review. Brain Res Brain Res Rev. 33(1), 13-33. [abstract] [PDF]

Flores, C. & Stewart, J. (2000) Basic fibroblast growth factor as a mediator of the effects of glutamate in the development of sensitization to stimulant drugs: studies in the rat. Psychopharmacology. 151(2-3), 152-165. [abstract] [PDF]

Altier, N. & Stewart, J. (1999) The role of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens in analgesia. Life Sci. 65(22), 2269-2287. [abstract] [PDF]

Stewart, J., de Wit, H., & Eikelboom, R. (1984) Role of unconditioned and conditioned drug effects in the self-administration of opiates and stimulants. Psychological Rev. 1984, 91(2), 251-268. [abstract]

Relapse to Drug Taking

Paolone, G., Botreau, F., & Stewart, J. (2008) The facilitative effects of D-cycloserine on extinction of a cocaine-induced conditioned place preference can be long lasting and resistant to reinstatement. Psychopharmacology, on-line Aug 10.

Hood, S., Sorge, R. E., & Stewart, J. (2007) Chronic buprenorphine reduces the response to sucrose-associated cues in non food-deprived rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav, 86(3), 566-575.

Leri, F., Sorge, R. E., Cummins, E., Woehrling, D., Pfaus, J. G., & Stewart, J. (2007) High-dose methadone maintenance in rats: effects on cocaine self-administration and behavioral side effects. Neuropsychopharmacology, 32, 2290-2300.

Sorge, R. E., & Stewart, J. (2006) The effects of chronic buprenorphine on intake of heroin and cocaine in rats and its effects on nucleus accumbens dopamine levels during self-administration. Psychopharmacology, 188, 28-41.

Sorge, R. E., & Stewart, J. (2006) The effects of long-term chronic buprenorphine treatment on the locomotor and nucleus accumbens dopamine response to acute heroin and cocaine in rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav, 84, 300-305.

Botreau, F., Paolone, G., & Stewart, J. (2006) D-Cycloserine facilitates extinction of a cocaine-induced conditioned place preference. Behav Brain Res, 172, 173-178.

Sorge, R.E., & Stewart, J. (2005) The contribution of drug history and time since termination of drug taking to stress-induced cocaine seeking in rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 183(2), 210-217. [abstract] [PDF]

Sorge, R.E., Rajabi, H. & Stewart, J. (2005) Rats maintained chronically on buprenorphine show reduced heroin and cocaine seeking in tests of extinction and drug-induced reinstatement. Neuropsychopharmacology. 30(9), 1681-1692. [abstract]

Leri, F., Tremblay, A., Sorge, R. E., & Stewart, J. (2004) Methadone maintenance reduces heroin- and cocaine-induced relapse without affecting stress-induced relapse in a rodent model of poly-drug use. Neuropsychopharmacology. 29(7), 1312-1320. [abstract]

Capriles, N., Rodaros, D., Sorge, R. E., & Stewart, J. (2003) A role for the prefrontal cortex in stress- and cocaine-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking in rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 168(1-2), 66-74. [abstract] [PDF]

Leri, F., Flores, J., Rajabi, H., & Stewart, J. (2003) Effects of cocaine in rats exposed to heroin. Neuropsychopharmacology. 28(12), 2102-2116. [abstract] [PDF]

Leri, F., Flores, J., Rodaros, D., & Stewart, J. (2002) Blockade of stress-induced but not cocaine-induced reinstatement by infusion of noradrenergic antagonists into the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis or the central nucleus of the amygdala. J Neurosci. 22(13), 5713-5718. [abstract] [PDF]

Erb, S., Salmaso, N., Rodaros, D., & Stewart, J. (2001) A role for the CRF-containing pathway from central nucleus of the amygdala to bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in the stress-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking in rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 158(4), 360-365. [abstract] [PDF]

Leri, F. & Stewart, J. (2001) Drug-induced reinstatement to heroin and cocaine seeking: a rodent model of relapse in polydrug use. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 9(3), 297-306. [abstract]

Erb, S., Hitchcott, P.K., Rajabi, H., Mueller, D., Shaham, Y., & Stewart, J. (2000) Alpha-2 adrenergic receptor agonists block stress-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking. Neuropsychopharmacology, 23(2), 138-150. [abstract]

Shaham, Y., Highfield, D., Delfs, J. Leung, S., & Stewart, J. (2000) Clonidine blocks stress-induced reinstatement of heroin seeking in rats: an effect independent of the locus coeruleus noradrenergic neurons. Eur J Neurosci. 12(1), 292-302. [abstract]

Mueller, D. & Stewart, J. (2000) Cocaine-induced conditioned place preference: reinstatement by priming injections of cocaine after extinction. Behav Brain Res. 115(1), 39-47. [abstract] [PDF]

Erb, S. & Stewart, J. (1999) A role for the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, but not the amygdala, in the effects of corticotropin-releasing factor on stress-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking. J Neurosci. 19(20), RC35: 1-6. [abstract] [PDF]

Sensitization and Long-Lasting Changes in the Midbrain Dopaminergic System

Placenza, F.M., Rajabi, H., and Stewart, J. (2008) Chronic buprenorphine treatment in rats increases levels of glutamate in the nucleus accumbens and blocks the expression of cocaine-induced behavioral sensitization. Psychopharmacology, on-line July 5.

Rodaros, D., Caruana, D. A., Amir, S. & Stewart, J. (2007) Corticotropin-releasing factor projections from limbic forebrain and paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus to the region of the ventral tegmental area. Neuroscience, 150, 8-13.

Mueller, D., Chapman, C.A., & Stewart, J. (2006) Amphetamine induces dendritic growth in ventral tegmental area dopaminergic neurons in vivo via basic fibroblast growth factor. Neuroscience. 137(3), 727-735. [abstract] [PDF]

Moroz, I.A., Peciña, S, Schallert, T. & Stewart, J. (2004) Sparing of behavior and basal extracellular dopamine after 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the nigrostriatal pathway in rats exposed to a pre-lesion sensitizing regimen of amphetamine. Exp Neurology. 189(1), 78-93. [abstract] [PDF]

Flores, C., Stewart, J., Salmaso, N., Zhang, Y., & Boksa, P. (2002) Astrocytic basic fibroblast growth factor expression in dopaminergic regions after perinatal anoxia. Biol Psychiatry. 52(4), 362. [abstract] [PDF]

Flores C., Samaha, A-N., & Stewart J. (2000) Requirement of endogenous basic fibroblast growth factor for sensitization to amphetamine. J Neurosci. 20(2), RC55: 1-5 [abstract] [PDF]

Flores C., Rodaros D., & Stewart J. (1998) Long-lasting induction of astrocytic basic fibroblast growth factor by repeated injections of amphetamine: blockade by concurrent treatment with a glutamate antagonist. J Neurosci. 18(22), 9547-9555. [abstract] [PDF]

Badiani, A. & Stewart, J. (1999) Long-lasting sensitization to the accelerating effects of amphetamine on the speed of an internal clock. Behav Brain Res. 100(1-2), 217-223. [abstract]

Hormones, Brain and Behavior

Moroz, I. A., Rajabi, H., Rodaros, D., & Stewart, J. (2003) Effects of sex and hormonal status on astrocytic basic fibroblast growth factor-2 and tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity after medial forebrain bundle 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the midbrain dopamine neurons. Neuroscience. 118(2), 463-476. [abstract] [PDF]

Stewart, J. & Rodaros, D. (1999) The effects of gonadal hormones on the development and expression of the stimulant effects of morphine in male and female rats. Behav Brain Res. 102(1-2), 89-98. [abstract]

Flores, C., Salmaso, N., Cain, S., Rodaros, D., & Stewart, J. (1999) Ovariectomy of adult rats leads to increased expression of astrocytic basic fibroblast growth factor in the ventral tegmental area and in dopaminergic projection regions of the entorhinal and prefrontal cortex. J Neurosci. 19(19), 8665-8673. [abstract] [PDF]

Circadian Rhythms

Gavrila, A. M., Robinson, B., Hoy, J., Stewart, J., Bhargava, A., & Amir, S. (2008) Double-stranded RNA-mediated suppression of Period2 expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus disrupts circadian locomotor activity in rats. Neuroscience, 154, 409-414.

Verwey, M., Khoja, Z., Stewart, J., and Amir, S. (2008) Region-specific modulation of PER2 expression in the limbic forebrain and hypothalamus by nighttime restricted feeding in rats. Neuroscience Letters, 440, 54-58.

Verwey, M., Khoja, Z., Stewart, J., & Amir, S. (2007) Differential regulation of the expression of Period2 protein in the limbic forebrain and dorsomedial hypothalamus by daily limited access to highly palatable food in food-deprived and free-fed rats. Neuroscience, 147, 277-285.

Waddington Lamont, E., Harbour, V. L., Barry-Shaw, J., Renteria Diaz, L., Robinson, B., Stewart, J., et al. (2007) Restricted access to food, but not sucrose, saccharine, or salt, synchronizes the expression of Period2 protein in the limbic forebrain. Neuroscience, 144, 402-411.

Segall, L. A., Perrin, J. S., Walker, C. D., Stewart, J., & Amir, S. (2006) Glucocorticoid rhythms control the rhythm of expression of the clock protein, Period2, in oval nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and central nucleus of the amygdala in rats. Neuroscience, 140, 753-757.

Waddington-Lamont, E., Robinson, B., Stewart, J. and Amir, S. (2005) The central and basolateral nuclei of the amygdala exhibit diametrically opposite circadian rhythms in expression of the clock protein Period2. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 102(11), 4180-4184. [abstract] [PDF]

Waddington-Lamont, E., Renteria Diaz, L., Barry Shaw, J., Stewart, J. and Amir, S. (2005) Daily restricted feeding rescues a rhythm of period2 expression in the arrhythmic suprachiasmatic nucleus. Neuroscience. 132(2), 245-248. [abstract] [PDF]

Amir, S., Lamont, E. W., Robinson, B., & Stewart, J. (2004) A circadian rhythm in the expression of PERIOD2 protein reveals a novel SCN-controlled oscillator in the oval nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. J Neurosci. 24(4), 781-790. [abstract] [PDF]

Amir, S., & Stewart, J. (1999) The effectiveness of light on the circadian clock is linked to its emotional value. Neuroscience. 88(2), 339-345. [abstract] [PDF]

Amir, S., & Stewart, J. (1996) Resetting of the circadian clock by a conditioned stimulus. Nature. 379(6565), 542-545. [abstract]

About Jane Stewart
Jane Stewart received her Ph.D. from the University of London, England. After completing her degree she worked as a Senior Research Biologist at Ayerst Pharmaceuticals, Montreal. She joined Concordia University (then Sir George Williams) in 1963, served as chair of the Department of Psychology from 1969-1974, and director of the CSBN from 1990-1997. She has served on committees at NSERC, CIHR and CFI and is on the editorial board of several scientific journals. She holds an honorary degree from Queen's University, is a Fellow of CPA, APA and AAAS, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Academy of Sciences. On June 29th, 2007 she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Click here for a full CV.