Espen Walderhaug Print

Post Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Psychology, University of Oslo, and Neuroimaging Research Fellowship at the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine.

Areas of interest: 

  • The functions and purpose of the neurotransmitters serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine.
  • Brain imaging techniques such as PET and fMRI.
  • Sex differences in response to serotonergic depletion.
  • Sex differences in the prevalence of depression, anxiety, addiction, AD/HD and impulse control disorders.
  • Impulsivity (behaviour and strategy on neuropsychological tests).
  • Drug addiction, PTSD, transcultural research and developmental issues.
Espen Walderhaug's PhD thesis:

http://wo.uio.no/as/WebObjects/theses.woa/wa/these?WORKID=68332

Project description for: "Biological bases of addiction: investigating norepinephrine and brain stress systems using PET in abstinent alcoholics"

Project manager: Espen Walderhaug

E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Mentor: Alexander Neumeister

 

Project summary

This project constitutes progress toward the specific goal of solving the complex biomedical problem of addictive behaviors. The project manager (Espen Walderhaug) will take part in an interdisciplinary research consortium at Yale University on stress, self control and addiction (IRCSSA) bringing together 50 leading scientists who conduct research relevant to a number of NIH Institutes (NIMH, NIA, NIDA, NIAAA, NHLBI, NCI, NICHD,NIDDK, NIEHS, NINDS, NIDCD). Dr. Walderhaug will be trained in state-of-the-art imaging techniques using PET and fMRI, and will be in charge of the study described in the project description. The director of the molecular imaging program at Yale University, Alexander Neumeister, have worked with the Dr. Walderhaug and Prof. Nils Inge Landrø, for two years and co-authored an article in Biological Psychiatry. Dr. Walderhaug aims to work with SERAF and Frode Willoch in the imaging group at UiO and Aker University Hospital from 2011, when the two years of data collection at Yale is completed.

The project will provide a greater understanding of the norepinephrine brain system, stress and self control mechanisms underlying addictions which will lead to the development of new social, behavioral and pharmacological prevention and treatment strategies for reducing alcoholism and other addictions, in addition to improve treatment modalities, diagnostic capabilities, and classification systems.

Primary objectives:

Hypothesis 1: In abstinent alcoholics relative to healthy controls, norepinephrine transporter (NET) binding potential (BP) will be abnormally elevated in the primary regions of interest (ROI) including the brain stem (locus coeruleus, LC), thalamus, ventral striatum, amygdala and the prefrontal cortex (PFC).

Hypothesis 2: The increase in NET BP in the primary ROIs in abstinent alcohol dependent patients will correlate positively with behavioral stress and stress-related biological measures such as heart rate variability, cortisol, neuropeptide Y and endocannabinoids.

Hypothesis 3: The increase in NET BP in the LC, thalamus and PFC in abstinent alcohol dependent patients will be present in both men and women.

Secondary objectives:

NET BP and stress-related measures will not differ between abstinent alcohol dependent patients and pathological gamblers suggesting a shared pathophysiologiocal pathway in these two groups related to addiction.

The initial focus will be on abstinent alcohol dependent patients and pathological gamblers, but our attention might also drift towards Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).