Nathan S. Pentkowski

Associate Professor

Photo: Nathan Pentkowski
Email: 
pentkowski@unm.edu
Office: 
Logan Hall, 108
Education: 
Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa
Lab Website
 
Curriculum vitae
 

Research Area/s:

Cognition, Brain and Behavior,  Diversity and Health Data Across the Lifespan

Research Interests:

  • Neurobiology of drug addiction, including cocaine, methamphetamine, alcohol, and fentanyl.
  • Behavioral and neurobiological consequences of adolescent exposure to methamphetamine, ethanol, and cocaine.
  • Social influences on drug self-administration and relapse, including prosocial interactions and chronic stress.
  • Neurobiology of anxiety and fear related defensive behaviors.
  • Examining serotonin (e.g., 5-HT1B, 5-HT2C, 5-HT2A) and corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF1) receptors as novel targets for treating drug addiction and affective disorders.
  • Role of stress systems in modulating depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors in rodent transgenic models of Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Selective manipulation of mesocorticolimbic structures using viral-mediated gene transfer and DREADD technology.

Profile:

Accepting students?  Dr. Pentkowski is not accepting students for Fall 2026.

 

Research in my laboratory utilizes behavioral, pharmacological, biochemical, imaging and genetic techniques to examine the neurobiological mechanisms underlying drug abuse, mood and anxiety disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease, including the critical role of stress. Prolonged exposure to excessive or uncontrollable stress represents a common risk factor for these neuropsychiatric disorders. My goal is to utilize these neuroscience techniques to identify the brain systems dysregulated in these neuropsychiatric disorders to develop novel pharmacotherapies.

Selected Publications

  • Chanel TM, Vigil JM, Pentkowski NS. (2024). The effects of full spectrum hemp oil on extinction of stress-enhanced fear learning: A rat model of PTSD. Current Research in Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 8: 244.
  • Pentkowski NS, Bouquin SJ, Maestas-Olguin CR, Villasenor ZM, Clark BJ (2022). Differential effects of chronic stress on anxiety-like behavior and contextual fear conditioning in the TgF344-AD rat model of Alzheimer’s disease. Behavioral Brain Research, 418: 113661.
  • Reyna NC, Madden JT, Thiel KJ, Pentkowski NS (2021). Methamphetamine and social rewards interact to produce enhanced conditioned place preference in male adolescent rats. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 201, 173091.
  • Maestas-Olguin CR, Parish MM, Pentkowski NS (2021). Coyote urine, but not 2-phenylethylamine, induces a complete profile of unconditioned anti-predator defensive behaviors. Physiology & Behavior, 229, 113210.
  • Madden JT, Reyna NC, Pentkowski NS (2020). Antagonizing serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptors attenuates methamphetamine-induced reward and blocks methamphetamine-induced anxiety-like behaviors in adult male rats. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 215: 108178.
  • Pentkowski NS, Berkowitz L, Olguin C and Clark BJ (2018). Anxiety-like behavior as an early endophenotype in the TgF344-AD rat model of Alzheimer’s disease. Neurobiology of Aging, 61, 169-76.
  • *Bastle RM, *Oliver RJ, Gardiner AS, Pentkowski NS, Bolognani F, Allan AM, Chaudhury T, St. Peter M, Galles N, Smith C, Neisewander JL and Perrone-Bizzozero NI (2018). In silico identification and in vivo validation of miR-495 as a novel regulator of motivation for cocaine that targets multiple addiction related networks in the nucleus accumbens. Molecular Psychiatry, Epub ahead of print, doi:10.1038/mp.2016.238.
  • Der-Ghazzarian TS, Call T, Scott SN, Dai K, Brunwasser SJ, Noudali SN, Pentkowski NS and Neisewander JL (2017). Effects of a 5-HT1B receptor agonist on locomotion and reinstatement of cocaine-conditioned place preference after abstinence from repeated injections in mice. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 11:73. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2017.00073.
  • Rodriguez CI, Magcalas CM, Barto D, Fink BC, Rice JP, Bird CW, Davies S, Pentkowski NS, Savage DD and Hamilton DA (2016). Effects of sex and housing on social, spatial, and motor behavior in adult rats exposed to moderate levels of alcohol during prenatal development. Behavioural Brain Research, 313, 233-43.
  • Pockros-Burgess LA, Pentkowski NS, Der-Ghazarian T and Neisewander JL (2014). Effects of the 5-HT2C receptor agonist CP809101 in the amygdala on reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior and anxiety-like behavior. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 17, 1751-62.
  • Pentkowski NS, Harder BG, Brunwasser SJ, Bastle RM, Peartree NA, Yanamandra K, Adams MD and Neisewander JL (2014). Pharmacological evidence for an abstinence-induced switch in 5-HT1B receptor modulation of cocaine self-administration and cocaine-seeking behavior. ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 19, 168-76.

Courses Taught

PSYC 347: Drugs and Behavior

PSYC 450/650: Neurobiology of Addiction

PSYC 450/650: Molecular Psychiatry

PSYC 540: Biological Bases of Behavior

PSYC 641: Seminar - Cognition, Brain, and Behavior

Lab

Graduate Students:

  • Jack Madden
  • Carlos Maestas-Olguin
  • Kayla Cox
  • Tiphanie Chanel