Our current research interests are primarily on the neurobiological consequences of drug abuse and addiction on the brain and behaviors. The purpose of our work aims to approach the vulnerabilities of addiction emphasizing on the neurotoxicity, neuronal cell degeneration, neuroinflammation, cognitive impairment, and neurodevelopmental deficits, as well as the accompanying changes in the brain areas involved in drug addiction and cognition.

     In addition, our research interests are also focusing on how drugs of abuse impact the molecular and physiological circadian clocks, and vice versa, how disruption of the circadian rhythms plays a key part in regulating the brain’s reward-related pathways. The therapeutic approach that reset the circadian rhythm contributes to clock-drug interactions will also be studied.

     Another research study in our lab is focusing on the neurobiological consequences of cerebrovascular disease (stroke), particularly after a transient ischemic stroke, which results in neuronal cell death and eventually leads to serious neurological consequences including cognitive impairments and dementia. Our research aims are focusing on the signaling molecules crucial for memory formation, and develop the therapeutic approaches to slow down the progression of memory and cognitive deficits after stroke.

1.Lwin T, Yang JL, Ngampramuan S, Viwatpinyo K, Chancharoen P, Veschsanit N, et al. Melatonin ameliorates methamphetamine-induced cognitive impairments by inhibiting neuroinflammation via suppression of the TLR4/MyD88/NFkappaB signaling pathway in the mouse hippocampus. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2020:110109.

2.Yang JL, Chen WY, Mukda S, Yang YR, Sun SF, Chen SD. Oxidative DNA damage is concurrently repaired by base excision repair (BER) and apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1)-initiated nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) in cortical neurons. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol. 2020;46(4):375-90.

3.Mukda S, Tsai CY, Leu S, Yang JL, Chan SHH. Pinin protects astrocytes from cell death after acute ischemic stroke via maintenance of mitochondrial anti-apoptotic and bioenergetics functions. J Biomed Sci. 2019;26(1):43.

4.Yang JL, Mukda S, Chen SD. Diverse roles of mitochondria in ischemic stroke. Redox Biol. 2018;16:263-75.

5.Mukda S, Panmanee J, Boontem P, Govitrapong P. Melatonin administration reverses the alteration of amyloid precursor protein-cleaving secretases expression in aged mouse hippocampus. Neurosci Lett. 2016;621:39-46.