Robert Pearce

The neurophysiology of anesthesia and amnesia

Research in the Pearce laboratory is focused on understanding how anesthetics and other drugs that target GABA receptors control memory formation and modulate consciousness. Using expressed recombinant receptors, hippocampal brain slice preparations, and in vivo recordings from the hippocampus, we are investigating how inhibitory circuits support and control network activity. We are particularly interested in identifying the molecular components and functional properties of different types of inhibitory synapses that are found on the dendrites of pyramidal neurons and interneurons, and in determining their roles in generating or controlling complex circuit responses and in regulating synaptic plasticity.

Selective knockout of the alpha5 subunit of the GABA-A receptor from the CA1 region of the hippocampus. B. Knockout from the pyramidal neurons in the CA1 region does not prevent etomidate from blocking LTP –  thus implicating alpha5 subunits in non-pyramidal neurons. Data from Rodgers et al. (2015) J. Neurosci.

Lab website

Representative publications:

Banks, M.I., White, J.A., Pearce, R.A. (2000) Interactions between distinct GABAA circuits in hippocampus. Neuron 25:449-457.

Capogna, M., Pearce, R.A. (2011) GABAA,slow: causes and consequences. Trends in Neurosciences 34(2): 101-112.

Goldschen-Ohm, M., Haroldson, A., Jones, M.V., Pearce, R.A. (2014) A non-equilibrium binary elements-based kinetic model for benzodiazepine regulation of GABAA receptors. Journal of General Physiology 144: 27-39. PMCID: PMC4076519

Rodgers, F. C., Zarnowska, E. D., Laha, K.T., Engin, E., Zeller, A., Keist, R., Rudolph, U., Pearce, R. A. (2015) Etomidate impairs long-term potentiation in vitro by targeting α5-subunit containing GABAARs on nonpyramidal cells. Journal of Neuroscience 35:9707-9716. PMCID: PMC4571505