Summer Students 2005
	Jess Bartels studied the anxiolytic effects of alcohol in mice using a light/dark box. After an injection of alcohol three strains of mice were tested to measure their emergence from the dark side of the box to the light, emergence from the dark to light side, number of crossings between sides and droppings. Jess also used human participants in an experiment measuring estrogen levels and the ability to recognize facial expressions. Both of these studies are pending.
	Shadeeka Mendez, a visiting student from South Carolina State University, studied alcohol dependence in two different strains of mice. For her study, mice had 24 hour access to non-alcoholic beer. As the study progressed she gradually increased the amount of alcohol added to the beer. She recorded how much beer each mouse drank each day for over a month. At the end of this period, she removed the beer and tested each mouse for alcohol withdrawal. One of the symptoms of withdrawal is seizures. To measure this she recorded handling induced convulsions in the mice when she picked them up and spun them by the tail. Shadeeka found that different genotypes of mice differ in the amount of alcohol they consume.
	Brittany Thompson investigated the effect of beta-endorphin in an animal model of despair using a method called a Forced Swim Test (FST). This test is commonly used to investigate the effectiveness of antidepressants. She found mice with no beta-endorphin displayed less despair than wildtype mice. This suggests that endorphins have a role in mediating the effects of stress. She also examined the effects of alcohol consumption after the FST. She found that female mice were more prone to increase depression while male mice were more likely to increase the amount of alcohol they drank.
	Shayna Wrighten investigated the interaction of sex hormones and beta-endorhpin and their affect on alcohol sensitivity. In order to remove testosterone and estrogen in male and female mice, she performed castrations and ovarectomies. She then administered alcohol injections and tested the mice for loss of righting reflex, displayed by mice laying on their back and unable to right themselves. She found that the effect of the surgeries removed any sex differences in the sensitivity to alcohol.

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