U2: Biological Bases of Behavior
Psychoactive Drugs
Mouse Party
1. Go to http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/mouse/
2. Click PLAY (use headphones!)
3. Put each mouse in the chair and answer the questions below- be detailed!!
Eddie the Ecstasy Mouse
1. What are serotonin transporters responsible for?
2. How does ecstasy cause the high? In other words, how does it overstimulate the receptors?
3. What serotonin pathways does ecstasy affect and why is it slightly addictive?
Max the Meth Mouse
1. How does methamphetamine get into your body’s cells?
2. What happens once meth gets into the cell?
3. What does the excess dopamine cause the transporters to do?
4. What does the excess dopamine end up doing?
5. Why is meth so addictive?
Harry the Heroine Mouse
1. Before heroine enters the system, what neurotransmitters are active and what do they do?
2. How does heroin produce a high?
3. Why is morphine used as a painkiller?
Lacey the LSD Mouse
1. What neurotransmitter does LSD resemble enough to bind with its receptors?
2. Why does LSD have complex sensory effects?
3. What brain area does LSD and other hallucinogens excite, and what does it do?
Carter the Cocaine Mouse
1. What are dopamine transporters responsible for?
2. What does cocaine do to these transporters and what happens as a result?
3. In what two areas does cocaine concentrate?
a.
b.
Miley the Marijuana Mouse
1. Before marijuana enters the system, what neurotransmitters are active and what do they do?
2. What is the body’s natural cannabinoid called? ________________________________
3. What do cannabinoid receptors turn off the release of?
4. How are THC and anandamide similar?
5. What is anandamide responsible for?
a.
b.
c.
6. How are THC and anandamide different?
Annie the Alcohol Mouse
1. What happens when GABA binds to a receptor? What kind of neurotransmitter is it?
2. What kind of neurotransmitter is glutamate? __________________________________
3. What two things happen when alcohol enters the brain?
a.
b.
4. Alcohol particularly affects brain areas that are involved in
a.
b.
c.