Opioids and the Mesopontine Cholinergic Nuclei: Explorations of a new target for combating opioid addiction

PhD defence by Jefferson Novaes Gomes

Assessment Committee

Associate professor Majid Sheykhzade, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Associate professor Mai Marie Holm, Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine
Associate professor Stephan Steidl, Loyola University Chicago, Department of Psychology

Supervisors

Associate Professor Kristi Anne Kohlmeier
Professor Sui Nan
Doctor Jianjun Zhang

Department

Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology

Graduate Programme

Neuroscience

Place

Digital defence, please follow the link: https://ucph-ku.zoom.us/j/68492471889?pwd=TptYZX0MKGAMpE1guLMbjRwuD7niwN.1
MeetingID, if relevant: 684 9247 1889
Password, if relevant: 286220

As the defence will be held digitally, we kindly ask guests who do not have an active role in the defence to mute their microphones and keep their cameras turned off throughout the defence. Questions from the audience should be submitted via the chat function.

Email address to gain access to the thesis: jefferson.gomes@sund.ku.dk.
You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.
Recipients of copies of the thesis are not allowed to share or distribute it due to copyright compliance.

Short description of the thesis

Opioids are powerful pain-relieving drugs, but repeated use can lead to dependence and addiction. This PhD thesis explores how opioids affect the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus (LDT), a brain region traditionally associated with sleep and arousal that also communicates with the brain’s reward system. Using electrophysiological recordings from individual neurons, this PhD thesis characterises how the three major opioid receptors—mu, delta, and kappa—alter neuronal activity in the LDT and examine how these effects vary with sex and age. The thesis further investigates how chronic morphine exposure reshapes LDT function and whether a ketogenic diet can modify these adaptations. Together, the findings identify the LDT as an important component of opioid-sensitive brain circuitry.