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Course Descriptions

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Autumn 2008

The Brain's Reward System

Schedule: Oct. 07-Dec. 16, 2008; $890; 5.0 CEUs, 50 Contact hours.
Instructors: Akira Horita, Jenny Williamson, and Trez Buckland.

This course provides in-depth information about core concepts necessary for understanding brain structures and functions related to addiction. It engages participants in discussions and assists them in conducting activities that ensure conceptual understanding. Topics:

• Addiction and Nervous System Overview
  This section presents nervous system's structures and functions necessary for understanding addiction.

• Neurotransmission
  This section addresses communication within the neuron and between neurons. It facilitates an understanding of how the action potential is formed and sent through the cell from the cell body to the axon, ending at the terminal button, causing the release of neurotransmitters in the space between neurons (synaptic cleft). The following mechanisms and concepts are also featured: how communication takes place at the synapse involving chemical mediators.

• Dopaminergic System
  This sequence of lessons features the dopamine neurons, synapse and receptors, dopaminergic pathways in the brain, and functions of the dopamine systems, especially the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system. It introduces the reward system in the human brain, ventral tegmental area (VTA), nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex, and addresses alteration of communication in the reward system due to drugs.

Mechanisms and Issues of Addiction

Schedule: January 13-March 24, 2009; $890; 5.0 CEUs, 50 Contact hours.
Instructors: Akira Horita, Jenny Williamson, and Trez Buckland.

This course will address the onset of addiction as a disease of the brain. Students' understanding of current addiction research, including up-to-date resources and methodologies, will be explored. This course will also strengthen students' skills in accessing literature to promote continued learning. Course content includes:

• Sequence of Events in the Addiction Disease
  This section provides an overview of the classes of drugs of abuse (stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens). Using two drugs of abuse as foci, it presents the onset and stages of the disease including the neurobiology of tolerance, dependence, and addiction. Positive and negative reinforcement, conditioning (effects of conditioning on the synapse, strengthening of connections between the detection and response circuits), and environmental cues as factors in the addiction and relapse processes are addressed. In addition, a brief overview of addiction treatment products, methods, and related resources is provided.

• Current Addiction Research
  This section presents an overview of key research methods and techniques used to study the mechanisms of addiction.

• Resources
  Participants explore exemplary curriculum materials and resources addressing concepts related to the neurobiology of addiction.

• Addiction Issues
  Participants explore current issues that reinforce their learning about addiction.

• Maintaining an Online Professional Network
  Encourages the creation of a learning community. A special forum is created as part of the course online components.