Dr. Gerald D. Frye

Full Professor

Joseph H. Shelton Professor of Neuropharmacology & Neurotoxicology

Medical Pharmacology & Toxicology
Joint Appointment Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Texas A&M Health Science Center
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843

Office: Joe Reynolds Medical Building
e-mail: gdfrye@medicine.tamhsc.edu
Phone: (979) 845-2888
Fax: (979)845-0699
Web: http://medicine.tamu.edu/pharm/Frye.htm

Research Interests

My research focuses on the neuropharmacologic, cellular and molecular mechanisms by which central nervous system (CNS) depressant drugs such as ethanol, anti-anxiety drugs, sedative-hypnotics and general anesthetics cause intoxication.  In addition, we are interested in how ethanol intoxication activates adaptive responses in the nervous system to cause acute and chronic functional tolerance, physical dependence and the withdrawal syndrome (ie., DTs).   We also study ethanol neurotoxicology in the fetal alcohol syndrome and alcohol related neurodevelopmental disorders where ethanol intoxication has teratogenic actions to disrupt critical periods of neuronal development and cause lasting impairment of cognitive brain function.  Studies focus on neurotransmitter receptors (GABA, glutamate, serotonin and acetylcholine) which are targets for ethanol in the adult CNS and which play important roles in neuronal development in the immature developing brain.  We are studying the impact of ethanol on the formation and refinement of brain synapses as reflected by altered development of GABAergic miniature potentials.  Our primary tools for studying neuronal responses are electrophysiological and include patch clamp whole cell recording in single neurons, in brain slices, acutely isolated from brain slices or in dispersed primary neuronal cell cultures.  

Education

Ph.D., Pharmacology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 1977
NIH Postdoctoral fellow, Neuropharmacology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Recent Publications

Hsiao, S.-H., DuBois, D.W., Miranda, R. and Frye, G.D., (2004) Critically-timed ethanol exposure reduces GABAAR function of septal neurons developing in vivo but not in vitro, Brain Res 1008:69-80.
DuBois,D.W.; Parrish,A.R.; Trzeciakowski,J.P.; Frye,G.D., (in press 2004) Binge ethanol exposure delays development of GABAergic miniature currents in septal neurons Dev. Br. Res.
Hsiao, S.-H., and Frye, G.D., (2003) AMPA receptors on developing medial septum/diagonal band neurons are sensitive to early postnatal binge-like ethanol exposure, Dev. Brain Res. 142:89-99.
Botting, S.K., Frye, G.D., Pulido, M.D. and McCool, B.A., (2003) Effects of chronic alcohol ingestion on rat lateral/basolateral amygdala ligand-gated chloride channels, Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 985:479-480.
McCool, B.A., Frye, G.D., Pulido, M.D., and Botting, S.K., (2003) Effects of chronic ethonal consumption on rat GABAA  and stychnine-sensitive glycine receptors expressed by lateral/basolateral Amygdala neurons, Brain Res. 963:165-177.
Hsiao, S.-H. and Frye, G.D., (2002) Postnatal ethanol intubation for 2 days reduces GABAAR currents of medial septum/diagonal band (MS/DB) neurons, Neurosci. Abst.: Program No. 41.6.
DuBois, D.W. and Frye, G.D., (2002) The effects of binge-like ethanol exposure on GABAergic miniature postsynaptic currents in primary septal cultures, Alc. Clin. Exp. Res. 26:135A.
Hsiao, S.-H., Parrish, A.R., Nahm, S.-S., Abbott, L.C., McCool, B.A. and Frye, G.D., (2002) Effects of early postnatal ethanol intubation on GABAergic synaptic proteins, Dev. Brain Res. 138:177-185.
Hsiao, S.-H., Acevedo, J.L., DuBois, D.W., Smith, K.R., West, J.R. and Frye, G.D. (2001) Early postnatal ethanol intubation blunts GABAA receptor up-regulation and modifies 3alpha-hydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-20-one sensitivity in rat MS/DB neurons.  Dev. Brain Res. 130:25-45. View
Frye, G.D. and Fincher, A.S., (2000) Sustained ethanol inhibition of native AMPA receptors on medial septum/diagonal band (MS/DB) neurons, Brit. J. Pharmacol., 129:87-94.
Hsiao, S.-H., West, J.R., Mahoney, J.C., and Frye, G.D. (1999) Postnatal ethanol exposure blunts up-regulation of GABAA receptor currents in Purkinje neurons, Brain Res. 832:124-135. View
Grover, C.A., Wallace, K.A., Lindberg, S.A. and Frye, G.D. (1998) Ethanol inhibition of NMDA currents in acutely dissociated medial septum/diagonal band neurons from ethanol dependent rats, Brain Res. 782:43-52.
Hsiao, S.-H., Mahoney, J.C., West, J.R., and Frye, G.D. (1998) Development of GABAA receptors on medial septum/diagonal band (MS/DB) neurons after postnatal ethanol exposure, Brain Res. 810:100-113. View

Current Grants

Link to Vita