The Felsenstein Medical Research Center
Neurobiology and Psychiatry
Neurobiology and Psychiatry Research Groups
  • Biological Psychiatry
  • Eye Research
  • Neurosciences
  • Pediatric Eye Research

    • All Research Groups

    Laboratory of Biological Psychiatry

    Head of Laboratory: Avi Weizman M.D.

    Head of Research Group: Irit Gil-Ad Ph.D. (Neuropharmacology, Growth factors)

    Head of Research Group: Rachel Maayan Ph.D. (Neurosteroids)

    Head of Research Group: Michal Taler Ph.D. (Behavior & Neurochemistry)

      Tel: 972-3-9376275/6134
    Fax: 972-3-9211478
    E-mail: weizmana@post.tau.ac.il, iritgil@post.tau.ac.il, rmayan@post.tau.ac.il

    Research Topics

    Neuropharmacology, Growth factors

    1. Evaluation of the "in vitro" antiproliferative and neurotoxic effect of some psychotrophic drugs. Identification of molecular and genetic mechanisms of the drugs-induced cell death (apoptosis, necrosis).
    2. Evaluation of the "in vivo" anti inflammatory effect of selected psychotrophic agents, studies in mice injected with LPS or other immunoactive antigens.
    3. Evaluation of the effect of antidepressants and anti psychotic agents on brain growth, neuronal survival and their potential protective activity from different insults. ("in vivo" and "in vitro").
    4. "In vivo" evaluation of the mode of action, metabolic/extrapyramidal side-effects and efficacy of novel analog of perphenazine and olanzapine (models in rats and mice).
    5. Stem cells in neuropsychiatric disorders (in collaboration with Prof. Daniel Offen).
    6. Neurogenetics of neuropsychiatric disorders (in collaboration with Dr. Amos Frisch).

      7. Neurosteroids

    7. Role of DHEA in drug addiction-induced decreased neurogenesis in the hippocampus of rats (in collaboration with Dr Gal Yadid, Bar Ilan University).
    8. The influence of DHEA/DHEAS prenatal treatment on the development of schizophrenia, later in life, due to a viral infection during pregnancy.
    9. The involvement of the HPA-axis in the anti-craving effect of DHEA in cocaine self-administration model in rats. (in collaboration with Dr Gal Yadid, Bar Ilan University).
    10. Possible role of DHEA in withdrawal from drug abuse (humans).
    11. Neurosteroids in neurodevelopmental disorders.

    Selected Publications

    1. Taler M, Gil-Ad I, Korob I, Weizman A. The immunomodulatory effect of theantidepressant sertraline in an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mousemodel of multiple sclerosis. Neuroimmunomodulation. ;18(2):117-122, 2011. MEDLINE

    2. Bloch M, Azem F, Aharonov I, Ben Avi I, Yagil Y, Schreiber S, Amit A, Weizman A. GnRH-agonist induced depressive and anxiety symptoms during in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer cycles. Fertil Steril. 95(1):307-309, 2011. MEDLINE

    3. Maayan R, Ram E, Biton D, Cohen H, Baharav E, Strous RD, Weizman A. The influence of DHEA pretreatment on prepulse inhibition and the HPA-axis stress response in rat offspring exposed prenatally to polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic-acid (PIC). Neurosci Lett. 521:6-10,2012 MEDLINE

    4. Barzilay R, Ben-Zur T, Sadan O, Bren Z, Taler M, Lev N,Tarasenko I, Uzan R, Gil-Ad I, Melamed E,Weizman A, Offen D. Intracerebral adult stem cells transplantation increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and protects against phencyclidine-induced social deficit in mice. Translational Psychiatry 2011 1, e61 [PubMed in process].

    5. First M, Gil-Ad I, Taler M, Tarasenko I, Novak N, Weizman A. The effects of reboxetine treatment on depression-like behavior, brain neurotrophins, and ERK expression in rats exposed to chronic mild stress. J Mol Neurosci. 2012 Sep 12. [Epub ahead of print] MEDLINE