I am an Associate Professor in the College of Medicine at Ajman University. I teach Biochemistry, Genetics and Cellular Neuroscience. My doctorate education is in Biochemistry from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland and postdoctoral training in neuroscience. My research focuses on understanding molecular mechanisms of microRNA-target interactions as they relate to brain development, and psychiatric diseases such as addiction, depression, and anxiety. I use a wide range of techniques such as viral-mediated gene transfer technologies, molecular biology and animal behavior to establish an understanding of the molecular and neuronal circuits that are responsible for controlling affective disorders-related behavior in rodents.
CD81, a member of the tetraspanin family, plays important roles in many physiological processes, such as cell motility, attachment, and entry. Yet, CD81 functions in the brain remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the effects of CD81 knockdown, using lentiviral vectors (LV), on anxiety- and ethanol-related behaviors. For this purpose, mice were stereotaxically injected with CD81 shRNA-expressing LV into the nucleus accumbens (Nacc) and were assessed for anxiety-like behavior using the elevated plus maze (EPM) and open field (OF) tests. Alcohol's sedative effects were studied using loss-of-righting-reflex (LORR) and voluntary ethanol intake was assessed using a two-bottle choice (TBC) procedure. Results showed that mice depleted of CD81 exhibited an anxiolytic-like response in the EPM and OF tests with no effect on locomotor activity. In addition, genetic reduction of CD81 in the Nacc increased mice' sensitivity to alcohol's sedative effects in the LORR test, although plasma alcohol concentrations were unaffected. Interestingly, CD81 loss-of-function-induced anxiolysis was accompanied by a significant decrease in ethanol, but not saccharin nor quinine, intake in the TBC procedure. Finally, and following CD81 mRNA quantification, Pearson's correlations showed a significant positive relationship between accumbal CD81 mRNA with anxiety and ethanol-related behaviors. Our data indicate that CD81 is implicated in the pathogenesis of anxiety and alcoholism. Indeed the targeted disruption of CD81, with the resultant decrease in CD81 mRNA in the Nacc, converted ethanol-"preferring" mice into ethanol "non-preferring" mice. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that future CD81-targeted pharmacotherapies may be beneficial for the treatment of anxiety and alcoholism.