Home › Academics › College of Liberal Arts › Faculty › S. Tiffany Donaldson

Faculty & Staff

Areas of Expertise

Brain changes underlying psychostimulant abuse; the female body’s natural response to pain, immediately preceding pregnancy and during delivery

Degrees

PhD, Northeastern University

Professional Publications & Contributions

• CUNNINGHAM, S.T., STEINMAN, J.L., WHIPPLE, B., MAYER, A.D., KOMISARUK, B.R. Differential roles of hypogastric and pelvic nerves in the analgesia and motoric effects of vaginocervical stimulation in rats. Brain Res., 559:373-434, 1991.
• CUNNINGHAM, S.T., ROSENBLATT, J.S., KOMISARUK, B.R. Evidence that caesarian-section induced ovulation in the rat is mediated by the pelvic and hypogastric nerves. Neuroendocrinol., 56:393, 1992.
• CUNNINGHAM, S.T., KELLEY, A.E. Opiate infusion into nucleus accumbens: Contrasting effects on motor activity and responding for conditioned reward Brain Res. 588:104, 1992.
• CUNNINGHAM, S.T., KELLEY, A.E. Hyperactivity and sensitization to psychostimulants following cholera toxin infusion into the nucleus accumbens. J. Neurosci., 13:2342-2350, 1993.
• CUNNINGHAM, S.T., FINN, M.E., KELLEY, A.E. Cross-sensitization between morphine and amphetamine in motor activity: role of the nucleus accumbens. Neuropsychopharmacol., 16:147-55, 1997.
• BOYLE, T.J., MASUDA, T., CUNNINGHAM, S.T. Effects of a kappa agonist, spiradoline mesylate (U62,066E), on activation and vaginocervical-stimulation produced analgesia in rats. Brain Res. Bull., 2001, 54:213-218, 2001.
• NEUGEBAUER, N., CUNNINGHAM, S.T. Prenatal cocaine and postnatal housing effects on open-field behavior in female rats. Neurobehav. Teratol. Soc., 51, 2002.
• SELL, S.L., THOMAS, M.L., CUNNINGHAM, S.T. Effects of estrous cycle and estradiol on behavioral sensitization to cocaine in female rats. Drug Alcohol Depend. 67:281-290, 2002.
• NEUGEBAUER, N., CUNNINGHAM, S.T., ZHU, J., BRYANT, MIDDLETON, L.S., R., DWOSKIN, L. Prenatal cocaine and environmental enrichment modulate open field activity, social interaction, and medial prefrontal cortex dopamine transporter function in adult rats. Dev. Brain Res., 153 (2):213-23, 2004.
• CUNNINGHAM, S.T., LACEY-LOYA, S., BOYLE, T.J. The role of adenosine receptors in antinociception produced by vaginocervical stimulation of the rat. In press, Neuroendocrinol., 2006.

Additional Information

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Dr. Donaldson’s research examines the brain changes underlying psychostimulant (e.g., cocaine, amphetamine) abuse. She uses pre-clinical models to determine the role that factors such as stress and rearing environment play in mediating vulnerability to drug abuse. She is also interested in understanding the female body’s natural response to pain, immediately preceding pregnancy and during delivery. In small animals, she has explored the peripheral nerves, neurochemicals and neuropeptides that promote increased pain thresholds of the reproductive tract.

TEACHING:

Behavioral Neuroscience (Psychology 260), Psychopharmacology (Psychology 362), Substance Abuse and the Brain (Psychology 363), Research Methods: Physiological (Psychology 469), Physiological Psychology (Psychology 660)