Publications

Recent Publications from the Urs lab:

• Delaney J, Nathani S, Tan V, Chavez C, Orr A, Paek J, Faraji M, Setlow B, Urs NM. Enhanced cognitive flexibility, goal-directed behavior and phasic dopamine signals in Norepinephrine transporter knockout mice. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2024 May 2. doi: 10.1038/s41386-024-01868-5. PMID: 38698264
• McDougle M, de Araujo A, Singh A, Yang M, Braga I, Paille V, Mendez-Hernandez R, Vergara M, Woodie LN, Gour A, Sharma A, Urs N, Warren B, de Lartigue G. Separate gut-brain circuits for fat and sugar reinforcement combine to promote overeating. Cell Metab. 2024 Feb 6;36(2):393-407.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2023.12.014. Epub 2024 Jan 18. PMID: 38242133
• Li H, Urs NM, Horenstein N.  Computational insights into ligand-induced G protein and β-arrestin signaling of the dopamine D1 receptor. J Comput Aided Mol Des. 2023 Jun;37(5-6):227-244. doi: 10.1007/s10822-023-00503-7. Epub 2023 Apr 15.   PMID: 37060492
• Gopinath A, Mackie PM, Phan LT, Mirabel R, Smith AR, Miller E, Franks S, Syed O, Riaz T, Law BK, Urs N, Khoshbouei H. Who Knew? Dopamine Transporter Activity Is Critical in Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses. Cells. 2023 Jan 10;12(2):269. doi: 10.3390/cells12020269. PMID: 36672204
• Nicholls PJ, Pack TF, Urs NM, Kumar S, Zhou Y, Ichim G, Ginzel JD, Turu G, Calabrese E, Roberts WL, Fan P, Ostapchenko VG, Guzman Lenis MS, Beraldo F, Hatina J, Prado VF, Prado MAM, Spasojevic I, Snyder JC, Dzirasa K, Johnson GA, Caron MG. Measuring Nonapoptotic Caspase Activity with a Transgenic Reporter in Mice. eNeuro. 2022 Oct 4;9(5): ENEURO.0147-21.2022. doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0147-21.2022. Print 2022 Sep-Oct. PMID: 36635920 
• Haoxi Li, Rosa Mirabel, Joseph Zimmerman, Ion Ghiviriga, Darian K. Phidd, Nicole Horenstein, Nikhil M. Urs. Structure-Functional-Selectivity Relationship Studies on A-86929 Analogs and Small Aryl Fragments toward Discovery of D1 agonists. ACS Chem Neurosci. 2022 Jun 6. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.2c00235. PMID: 35658399 
• Sharonda S. Harris, Sara M. Green, Mayank Kumar, Nikhil M. Urs. A Role for Cortical Dopamine in the paradoxical calming effects of psychostimulants. Nature Scientific Reports. 2022 Feb 24;12(1):3129. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-07029-2. PMC8873208.

• α-Synuclein-induced dysregulation of neuronal activity contributes to murine dopamine neuron vulnerability. Dagra A, Miller DR, Lin M, Gopinath A, Shaerzadeh F, Harris S, Sorrentino ZA, Støier JF, Velasco S, Azar J, Alonge AR, Lebowitz JJ, Ulm B, Bu M, Hansen CA, Urs N, Giasson BI, Khoshbouei H. NPJ Parkinsons Dis. 2021 Aug 18;7(1):76. doi: 10.1038/s41531-021-00210-w. PMID: 34408150  
• Enhanced tyrosine hydroxylase activity induces oxidative stress, causes accumulation of autotoxic catecholamine metabolites, and augments amphetamine effects in vivo. Vecchio LM, Sullivan P, Dunn AR, Bermejo MK, Fu R, Masoud ST, Gregersen E, Urs NM, Nazari R, Jensen PH, Ramsey A, Goldstein DS, Miller GW, Salahpour A. J Neurochem. 2021 Aug;158(4):960-979. doi: 10.1111/jnc.15432. Epub 2021 Jun 12. PMID: 33991113 
• Targeting β-Arrestins in the Treatment of Psychiatric and Neurological Disorders. Harris SS, Urs NM. CNS Drugs. 2021 Mar;35(3):253-264. doi: 10.1007/s40263-021-00796-y. Epub 2021 Mar 2. PMID: 33651366

• Deletion of Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3β in D2 Receptor-Positive Neurons Ameliorates Cognitive Impairment via NMDA Receptor-Dependent Synaptic Plasticity. Biological psychiatry. 87(8):745-755 [DOI] 10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.10.025. [PMID] 31892408.
• Retrograde Labeling Illuminates Distinct Topographical Organization of D1 and D2 Receptor-Positive Pyramidal Neurons in the Prefrontal Cortex of Mice.eNeuro. 7(5) [DOI] 10.1523/ENEURO.0194-20.2020. [PMID] 33037031.
• Structure-Functional-Selectivity Relationship Studies of Novel Apomorphine Analogs to Develop D1R/D2R Biased Ligands. ACS medicinal chemistry letters. 11(3):385-392 [DOI] 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.9b00575. [PMID] 32184974.
• Loss of β-arrestin2 in D2 cells alters neuronal excitability in the nucleus accumbens and behavioral responses to psychostimulants and opioids.Addiction biology. 25(6) [DOI] 10.1111/adb.12823. [PMID] 31441201.
• Defining Structure-Functional Selectivity Relationships (SFSR) for a Class of Non-Catechol Dopamine D1 Receptor Agonists.Journal of medicinal chemistry. 62(7):3753-3772 [DOI] 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b00351. [PMID] 30875219.
• Methods to Investigate the Role of β-Arrestin Signaling in Parkinson’s Disease.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.). 1957:385-391 [DOI] 10.1007/978-1-4939-9158-7_24. [PMID] 30919367.

Before UF

• Slow-release delivery enhances the pharmacological properties of oral 5-hydroxytryptophan: mouse proof-of-concept.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. 44(12):2082-2090 [DOI] 10.1038/s41386-019-0400-1. [PMID] 31035282.
• Toth K, Slosky LM, Pack TF, Urs NM, Boone P, Mao L, Abraham D, Caron MG, Barak LS. Ghrelin receptor antagonism of hyperlocomotion in cocaine-sensitized mice requires βarrestin-2. Synapse. 2018 Jan;72(1). doi: 10.1002/syn.22012. Epub 2017 Oct 7.
• Zhu L, Rossi M, Cui Y, Lee RJ, Sakamoto W, Perry NA, Urs NM, Caron MG, Gurevich VV, Godlewski G, Kunos G, Chen M, Chen W, Wess J. Hepatic β-arrestin 2 is essential for maintaining euglycemia. J Clin Invest. 2017 Aug 1;127(8):2941-2945. doi: 10.1172/JCI92913. Epub 2017 Jun 26.
• Zhu L, Almaça J, Dadi PK, Hong H, Sakamoto W, Rossi M, Lee RJ, Vierra NC, Lu H, Cui Y, McMillin SM, Perry NA, Gurevich VV, Lee A, Kuo B, Leapman RD, Matschinsky FM, Doliba NM, Urs NM, Caron MG, Jacobson DA, Caicedo A, Wess J. β-arrestin-2 is an essential regulator of pancreatic β-cell function under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Nat Commun. 2017 Feb 1;8:14295. doi: 10.1038/ncomms14295.
• Urs NM, Gee SM, Pack TF, McCorvy JD, Evron T, Snyder JC, Yang X, Rodriguiz RM, Borrelli E, Wetsel WC, Jin J, Roth BL, O’Donnell P, Caron MG. Distinct cortical and striatal actions of a β-arrestin-biased dopamine D2 receptor ligand reveal unique antipsychotic-like properties. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Dec 13;113(50):E8178-E8186. Epub 2016 Dec 1.
• Urs NM, Peterson SM, Caron MG. New Concepts in Dopamine D(2) Receptor Biased Signaling and Implications for Schizophrenia Therapy. Biol Psychiatry. 2017 Jan 1;81(1):78-85. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.10.011. Epub 2016 Oct 19. Review.
• Barak LS, Bai Y, Peterson S, Evron T, Urs NM, Peddibhotla S, Hedrick MP, Hershberger P, Maloney PR, Chung TD, Rodriguiz RM, Wetsel WC, Thomas JB, Hanson GR, Pinkerton AB, Caron MG. ML314: A Biased Neurotensin Receptor Ligand for Methamphetamine Abuse. ACS Chem Biol. 2016 Jul 15;11(7):1880-90. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.6b00291. Epub 2016 May 5.