skip to main content
Give

Dr. Gerald D. Frye, PhD

Gerald Frye
Gerald Frye, PhD

Professor Emeritus

Contact

Department of Neuroscience & Experimental Therapeutics
TX
gdfrye@tamu.edu

Education and Training

  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, BS, 1972
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, PhD, 1977
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Postdoctoral

Research Interests

  • Frye's primary tools for studying neuronal responses have been electrophysiological using patch-clamp whole cell recordings in single neurons in brain slices and primary neuronal cell cultures. Most of his work has been supported by peer-reviewed NIH grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Research interests include understanding the neuropharmacology of intoxication, tolerance and dependence, including epilepsy-like withdrawal seizures. How do alcohols (ethanol) change central nervous system (CNS) function through direct molecular level actions on the brain? How does alcohol activate brain adaptive responses in neurotransmitter systems and neurocircuits of the nervous system to cause acute and chronic resistance to intoxication (tolerance) and the physical requirement for ethanol (dependence) that triggers the withdrawal syndrome (DTs), including transient life-threatening grand mal seizures? Understanding the neurotoxicology of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) to identify therapeutic interventions that protect and improve brain function of children at risk for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) injury. What causes the fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder where intoxication disrupts critical periods of neuronal development and causes lasting impairment of cognitive brain function? How does ethanol distort receptors for the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the young brain, which is also an alcohol target in the adult brain? What is the impact of ethanol on the formation and refinement of brain synapses? Can therapeutic interventions protect brain connections and activity as well as preserve cognitive function? Frye participates in graduate training as a member of the faculty in the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience.

Representative Publications

  • Shannonhouse JL, DuBois DW, Fincher AS, Vela AM, Henry MM, Wellman PJ, Frye GD, Morgan C. Fluoxetine disrupts motivation and GABAergic signaling in adolescent hamsters. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2016 Apr 8;69:19-30. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2016.04.001 PMID: 27068049
  • DuBois DW, Damborsky JC, Fincher AS, Frye GD, Winzer-Serhan UH. Varenicline and nicotine enhance GABAergic synaptic transmission in rat CA1 hippocampal and medial septum/diagonal band neurons. Life Sciences. 2013;92:337-344. PMID: 23352971
  • Wang H, DuBois DW, Tobery AN, Griffith WH, Brandt P, Frye GD. Long-lasting distortion of GABA signaling in MS/DB neurons after binge-like ethanol exposure during initial synaptogenesis. Brain Research. 2013;1520:36-50. PMID: 23685190
  • Bañuelos C, Gilbert R, Montgomery K, Fincher A, Wang H, Frye GD, Setlow B, Bizon J. Altered spatial learning and delay discounting in a rat model of human third trimester binge ethanol exposure. Behavioural Pharmacology. 2012;23:54-85. PMID: 22129556
  • Huang LZ, Hsiao SH, Trzeciakowski J, Frye GD, Winzer-Serhan UH. Chronic nicotine induces growth retardation in neonatal rat pups. Life Sciences. 2006;78:1483-1493.
  • DuBois DW, Trzeciakowski JP, Parrish AR, Frye GD. GABAergic miniature postsynaptic currents in septal neurons show differential allosteric sensitivity after binge-like ethanol exposure. Brain Research. 2006;1089:101-115.
  • Hsiao SH, DuBois DW, Miranda R, Frye GD. Critically-timed ethanol exposure reduces GABAAR function of septal neurons developing in vivo but not in vitro. Brain Research. 2004;1008:69-80.
  • DuBois DW, Parrish AR, Trzeciakowski JP, Frye GD. Binge ethanol exposure delays development of GABAergic miniature currents in septal neurons. Developmental Brain Research. 2004;152:199-212.
  • Hsiao SH, Frye GD. AMPA receptors on developing medial septum/diagonal band neurons are sensitive to early postnatal binge-like ethanol exposure. Developmental Brain Research. 2003;142:89-99.
  • Botting SK, Frye GD, Pulido MD, McCool BA. Effects of chronic alcohol ingestion on rat lateral/basolateral amygdala ligand-gated chloride channels. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2003;985:479-480.
  • McCool BA, Frye GD, Pulido MD, Botting SK. Effects of chronic ethanol consumption on rat GABAA and strychnine-sensitive glycine receptors expressed by lateral/basolateral amygdala neurons. Brain Research. 2003;963:165-177.
  • Hsiao SH, Parrish AR, Nahm SS, Abbott LC, McCool BA, Frye GD. Effects of early postnatal ethanol intubation on GABAergic synaptic proteins. Developmental Brain Research. 2002;138:177-185.
  • Hsiao SH, Acevedo JL, DuBois DW, Smith KR, West JR, Frye GD. Early postnatal ethanol intubation blunts GABAA receptor up-regulation and modifies 3alpha-hydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-20-one sensitivity in rat MS/DB neurons. Developmental Brain Research. 2001;130:25-45.
  • Frye GD, Fincher AS. Sustained ethanol inhibition of native AMPA receptors on medial septum/diagonal band (MS/DB) neurons. British Journal of Pharmacology. 2000;129:87-94.
  • Grover CA, Wallace KA, Lindberg SA, Frye GD. Ethanol inhibition of NMDA currents in acutely dissociated medial septum/diagonal band neurons from ethanol dependent rats. Brain Research. 1998;782:43-52.