Daniel Quintana
University of Sydney, NSW
The Hooton Family PhD Scholarship
Mental Health
Daniel Quintana received his honours degree in psychology from Macquarie University, Sydney in 2007 in the social psychology laboratory. After completing his undergraduate studies Daniel begun working as a research assistant at the University of Sydney where he contributed to research activities involving neuroimaging, psychophysiology, neuropsychology under the supervision of his PhD supervisor, Dr. Andrew Kemp. He also gained experience in conducting meta-analyses and results led to a presentation at the 2009 Biological Psychiatry Conference in Paris, France and a recent publication in the journal Biological Psychiatry.
While conducting research on depression, Daniel became curious about the neurobiology of depression with comorbid alcohol abuse given the number of participants that presented with both and are generally excluded from research studies. He has a keen interest in the role of oxytocin in social behaviour and is collaborating with co-supervisors Prof. Iain McGregor and Dr. Adam Guastella, both of whom have extensive experience in this area. Daniel hopes his research will provide a greater understanding of depression and alcohol abuse, which, will contribute to the prevention and treatment of these disorders.
SUMMARY OF PROJECT:
Impact of depression, substance abuse and its treatment using oxytocin: An animal and human research study
In Australia, more than one million people at any one time experience depression, anxiety or related alcohol and drug problems. Further to this, undiagnosed depression is estimated to cost the nation $4.3 billion every year. A common feature of both depression and alcohol abuse is abnormalities in social behavior. The neuropeptide oxytocin has been found to play a crucial role in social behavior in humans and other animals. There is evidence to suggest that some aspects of depression symptomology (e.g., social withdrawal, reduced appetite, cognitive impairment, sexual dysfunction) may be influenced by oxytocin function in the brain. Furthermore, research has also discovered that prolonged alcohol intake may lead to irreversible loss of oxytocin neurons.
A powerful approach to investigate research questions relating to the way in which these conditions impact on behaviour and associated neurobiological processes is to combine animal and human research activities. While animal research provides the opportunity for experimental manipulation of certain factors (such as stress and substance abuse) not possible in humans, human research provides the means to examine the impact of these conditions more directly.
I will examine the impact of depression, substance abuse and its treatment using oxytocin in both rats and humans. Collection of neurobiological data from animal subjects and human participants will provide crucial information on underlying mechanisms of these conditions, their treatment and resilience. While reduced levels of oxytocin may, in part, underlie the impairments in social behaviour observed in patients with major depression and alcohol addictions, it remains to be seen whether administration of oxytocin ameliorates these impairments.