Lecturer
VA Outpatient Clinic
Dept. Psychiatry Service
251 Causeway Street
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: 617-248-1047
Email: Ciraulo.Domenic_A@Boston.VA.gov

Research Interests:

The major focus of Dr. Ciraulo's research is the pharmacology of substance abuse. In the early stages, his research centered on the use of antidepressants in patients with alcoholism. Along with his co-investigators, he has published a number of articles on the pharmacokinetics and clinical utility of antidepressents in patients with alcoholism and depression. He has also had a longstanding interest in benzodiazepines and alcoholism. He has explored the pharmacodynamics of benzodiazepines in children of alcoholics in an attempt to identify a subgroup at high risk for future development of alcoholism. He has also been funded to examine receptor and behavioral effects of prenatal exposure to ethanol and benzodiazepines in a mouse model. He also has a continuing interest in identifying differences in abuse liability among benzodiazepines.

Recent Publications:

Knapp CM, Foye MM, Ciraulo DA, Kornetsky C. The type IV phosphodiesterase inhibitors, Ro 20-1724 and rolipram, block the initiation of cocaine self-administration. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 62(1):151-8, 1999.

Streeter CC, Ciraulo DA, Harris GJ, Kaufman MJ, Lewis RF, Knapp CM, Ciraulo AM, Maas LC, Ungeheuer M, Szulewski S, Renshaw PF. Functional magnetic resonance imaging of alprazolam-induced changes in humans with familial alcoholism. Psychiatry Res 82(2):69-82, 1998.

von Moltke LL, Greenblatt DJ, Ciraulo DA, Grassi JM, Granda BW, Duan SX, Harmatz JS, Shader RI. Appetite suppressant drugs as inhibitors of human cytochromes P450: in vitro inhibition of P450-2D6 by D- and L-fenfluramine, but not phentermine. J Clin Psychopharmacol 18(4):338-41, 1998.

Ciraulo DA, Barnhill JG, Ciraulo AM, Sarid-Segal O, Knapp C, Greenblatt DJ, Shader RI. Alterations in pharmacodynamics of anxiolytics in abstinent alcoholic men: subjective responses, abuse liability, and electroencephalographic effects of alprazolam, diazepam, and buspirone. J Clin Pharmacol 37(1):64-73, 1997.