Publications

Publications

• Kahanek, P., Opachich, Z., Csitkovits, I., Kelly, M., Orsini, C.A. (2026). Contributions of the interaction between mu-opioid receptors and dopamine receptors in the regulation of risky decision making. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry.
• Truckenbrod, L.M., Carlos, N.R., Kelly, M., Garner, M., Streifer, M., Gore, A.C., Orsini, C.A. (2026). The role of ovarian hormones in risk aversion in female rats. Neuropsychopharmacology.
• Rae, R.J., et al. (large multi-site author group including Orsini, C.A.), Kelberman, M.A.. Sex differences in neuromodulatory subcortical systems and implications for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 2026

• Tieman, M.A., Gandy, H.M., Dufala, H.A., Orsini, C.A., Newman, L.A., McQuail, J.A. (2025). Individual differences in stress coping are linked to working memory performance in male and female F344 rats. Physiology & Behavior.
• Kelly M., Garner M., Cooper E.M., Orsini C.A. (2025). Cholinergic regulation of decision making under risk of punishment. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.

• Wheeler A-R., Truckenbrod L.M., Boehnke A., Kahanek P., Orsini C.A. (2024). Sex differences in sensitivity to dopamine receptor manipulations of risk-based decision making in rats. Neuropsychopharmacology.
• Truckenbrod, L.M., Setlow, B., Orsini, C.A. Sex differences in risk/reward decision making. Book chapter, in Encyclopedia of the Human Brain, 2nd Ed. (Vol. 2), Elsevier, 2024
• Cahill, L., Orsini, C.A. Where the study of sex influences has been, and where it is going. Book chapter, in Encyclopedia of the Human Brain, 2nd Ed. (Vol. 2), Elsevier, 2024
• Orsini, C.A., Kim, J.H., Arguello, A.A.. Molecular underpinnings of relapse-like behavior: drug context and development. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 17, 2024

• Wheeler, A-R., Truckenbrod, L.M., Cooper, E.M., Betzhold, S.M., Setlow, B, Orsini, C.A. (2023). Effects of Fentanyl Self-administration on Risk-Taking Behavior in Male Rats. Psychopharmacology.
• Truckenbrod, L.M. Betzhold, S.M., Wheeler, A-R., Shallcross, J., Singhal, S., Harden, S., Schwendt, M., Frazier, C.J., Bizon, J.L., Setlow, B., Orsini, C.A. (2023). Circuit- and cell-specific contributions to decision making involving risk of explicit punishment in male and female rats. The Journal of Neuroscience.
• Orsini, C.A., Pyon, W.S*., Dragone, R.J., Faraji, M. Wheeler, A-R., Pompilus, M., Febo, M., Setlow, B., Bizon, J.L. (2023). Age-related changes in risky decision making and associated neural circuitry in a rat model. eNeuro. *indicates co-first author.
• Truckenbrod, L.M., Cooper, E., Orsini, C.A. (2023). Cognitive relationships underlying risky decision making in male and female rats. Cognitive Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience.
• Truckenbrod, L.M., Cooper, E.M., Wheeler, A-R., Orsini, C.A. (2023). Cocaine intake correlates with risk-taking behavior and affects estrous cycling in female Sprague-Dawley rats. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.

• Orsini, C.A., Brown, T.W., Hodges, T.E., Alonso-Caraballo, Y., Winstanley, C.A., Becker, J.B. (2022). Neural  mechanisms mediating sex differences in motivation for reward: food and drugs of abuse.  The Journal of Neuroscience.
• Orsini, C.A., Truckenbrod, L.M., Wheeler, A-R. (2022). Regulation of sex differences in risk-based decision making by gonadal hormones: insights from rodent models. Behavioral Processes.
• Blaes, S.L., Betzhold, S.M., Bizon, J.L., Setlow, B., Orsini, C.A. (2022). Cocaine-induced changes in risk taking  in males and females depends on age at which cocaine self-administration occurs. Behavioral Neuroscience.

• Garman. T.S., Setlow, B., Orsini, C.A. (2021). The effects of a high-fat diet on impulsive choice in rats. Physiology & Behavior.
• Hernandez, C.M., Orsini, C.A., Blaes, S.L., Bizon. J.L., Febo, M., Bruijnzeel, A.W., Setlow B. (2021). Effects of repeated adolescent exposure to cannabis smoke on cognitive outcomes in adulthood. Journal of Psychopharmacology.
• Orsini, C.A., Blaes, S.L., Hernandez, C.M., Wheeler, A-R., Ten Eyck, T.W., Garman, T.S., Bizon, J.L., Setlow, B. (2021). Regulation of risky decision making by gonadal hormones in male and female rats. Neuropsychopharmacology.

• Hernandez, C.M., Orsini, C.A., Wheeler, A.-R., Ten Eyck, T.W., Setlow, B., Bizon, J.L. (2020). Testicular hormones mediate robust sex differences in impulsive choice. eLife.
• Orsini, C.A., Simon, N.W. (2020). Reward/punishment-based decision making in rodents. Current Protocols in Neuroscience Research.
• Orsini, C.A., Blaes, S.L., Dragone, R.J., Betzhold, S.M., Finner, A., Bizon, J.L., Setlow, B. (2020). Distinct relationships between risk taking and cocaine self-administration in under short-and long-access conditions. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry, 98:109791.
• Setlow, B., Blaes, S.L., Burns, M.R., Dragone, R.J., Orsini, C.A. (2020). Using rodent models to understand interactions between gambling and substance use. Current Opinion in Behavioral  Sciences, 31:37-41.

• Orsini, C.A., Blaes, S.L., Setlow, B., Simon, N.W. (2019). Recent Updates in Modeling Risky Decision Making in Rodents. In Psychiatric Disorders: Methods and Protocols. Firas H. Kobeissy, Editor. Springer Nature.
• Hernandez, C.M., Orsini, C.A., Labiste, C.C., Wheeler, A-R, Ten Eyck, T.W., Bruner, M.M., Harden, S., Frazier, C.J., Setlow, B., Bizon, J.L. (2019). Optogenetic inactivation of the basolateral     amygdala during distinct task epochs young and aged rats performing a delay discounting task. eLife, 8:e46174. PMCID: PMC6472996.
• Blaes, S.L., Orsini, C.A., Bruner, M.M., Wall, S.C., Stubbs, T., Ferguson, S.N., Holik, H., Febo, M., Bruijnzeel, A.W., Bizon, J.L., Setlow, B. (2019). Enhancing effects of acute exposure to cannabis smoke  on working memory performance. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 157:151-162. PMCID: PMC6563837.
• Orsini, C.A., Hernandez, C.M., Bizon, J.L., Setlow, B. (2019). Deconstructing value-based decision making via temporally-selective manipulation of neural activity: insights from rodent models. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 19:459-476. PMCID: PMC6472996.

• Blaes, S.L., Orsini, C.A.*, Mitchell, M.R., Spurrell, M.S., Betzhold, S., Vera, K., Bizon, J.L., Setlow, B. (2018). Monoaminergic modulation of decision making under risk of punishment in a rat   model. Behavioral Pharmacology. 29:745-761. PMCID: PMC6291248. *contributed equally.
• Orsini, C.A., Colon-Perez, L.M., Heshmati, S.C., Setlow, B., Febo, M (2018). Functional connectivity of chronic cocaine use reveals progressive neuroadaptations in neocortical, striatal and limbic networks. eNeuro, PMCID: PMC6071197.
• Orsini, C.A., Heshmati, S.C., Garman, T.S., Bizon, J.L., Setlow, B (2018). Contributions of medial prefrontal cortex to decision making involving risk of punishment. Neuropharmacology,  139:205-216. PMCID: PMC6108435.
• Deng, J.V., Orsini, C.A., Shimp, K.G., Bizon, J.L., Setlow, B. (2018). MeCP2 expression in a rat model of risky decision making. Neuroscience, 369:212-221. PMCID: PMC5766376.

• Mitchell, M.R., Orsini, C.A., & Setlow, B. Cocaine and intertemporal decision making.” (2017). In The Neuroscience of Cocaine: Mechanisms and Treatments. V. Preedy, Editor. Elsevier.
• Orsini, C.A., Hernandez, C., Singhal, S., Kelly, K.B., Frazier, C.J., Bizon, J.L., Setlow, B. (2017).  Optogenetic inhibition reveals distinct roles for basolateral amygdala activity at discrete timepoints during risky decision making. The Journal of Neuroscience, 48:11537-11548. PMCID: PMC5707761.
• Hernandez, C.M., Vetere, L., Orsini, C.A., McQuail, J.M., Burke, S., Mauer, D., Setlow, B., Bizon, J.L. (2017). Relationships between intertemporal choice and prefrontal cortical-mediated cognitive deficits in aged rats. Neurobiology of Aging, 60:141-152. PMCID: PMC5669385.
• Orsini, C.A., Mitchell, M.R., Heshmati, S.C., Spurrell, M. Bizon, J.B., Setlow, B. (2017). Effects of nucleus accumbens amphetamine administration on performance in a delay discounting task. Behavioural Brain Research, 321:130-136, PMCID: PMC5272779.
• Orsini, C.A., Setlow B. (2017). Sex differences in animal models of decision making. Journal of Neuroscience Research, 95:260-269, PMCID: PMC5120608.

• Orsini, C.A., Setlow, B., DeJesus, M., Galaviz, S., Loesch, K., Sacchettini, J.C., Ioerger, T., Wallis, D. (2016). Behavioral and transcriptomic profiling of mice null for Lphn3, a gene implicated in ADHD and addiction. Molecular Genetics and Genomic Medicine, 4:322-343, PMCID: PMC4867566.
• Orsini, C.A., Willis, M., Gilbert, R.J., Bizon, J.L., Setlow, B. (2016). Sex differences in a rat model of risky decision making. Behavioral Neuroscience, 130:50-61, PMCID: PMC4738105.

• Orsini, C.A., Moorman, D., Young, J., Setlow, B., Floresco, S.B. (2015). Neural mechanisms regulating different forms of risk-related decision-making: Insights from animal models. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 58:147-167, PMID: 26072028.
• Orsini, C.A., Trotta, R.T., Bizon, J.L. Setlow, B. (2015). Dissociable roles for the basolateral amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex in decision-making under risk of punishment. Journal of Neuroscience, 35:1368-1379, PMCID: PMC4308589.

• Orsini, C.A., Ginton, G., Shimp, K.G., Avena, N.M, Gold, M.S., Setlow, B. (2014). Food consumption and weight gain after cessation of chronic amphetamine administration. Appetite, 78:76-80, PMCID: PMC4041868.

• Orsini, C.A., Yan, C., Maren, S. (2013). Ensemble coding of context-dependent fear memory in the amygdala. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 7:1-8, PMCID: PMC3861741.

• Orsini, C.A. & Maren, S. (2012). Neural and cellular mechanisms of fear and extinction memory formation. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 36:1773-1802, PMCID: PMC3345303.
• Badrinarayan, A., Prater, K.E. & Orsini, C.A. (2012). The role of the central amygdala in selecting circuits and responses. Journal of Neuroscience, 32:8431-8433, PMCID: PMC3457702.

• Orsini, C.A. & Maren, S. (2011).  Hippocampal and prefrontal projections to the basal amygdala mediate contextual regulation of fear after extinction. Journal of Neuroscience, 23, p. 17269-17277, PMCID: 3241946.

• Leighton, J., Bird, G., Orsini, C.A., Heyes, C.. Social attitudes modulate automatic imitation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46:905-910, 2010

• Rabinak, C.A., Orsini, C.A., Zimmerman, J.M. & Maren, S. (2009). The amygdala is not necessary for unconditioned stimulus inflation after Pavlovian fear conditioning in rats. Learning & Memory, 16:645-654, PMCID: PMC2769164.
• Orsini, C.A. & Maren, S. (2009). Glutamate receptors in the medial geniculate nucleus are necessary for expression and extinction of conditioned fear in rats. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 92:581–589, PMCID: PMC2745571.
• Chang, C., Knapska, E., Orsini, C.A., Rabinak, C., Zimmerman, J. & Maren, S. (2009). Fear extinction in rodents. Current Protocols, Chapter 8:Unit8.23, PMCID: PMC2756523.

• Rabinak, C.A., Zimmerman, J.M., Chang, C. & Orsini, C.A. (2008). Bidirectional changes in the intrinsic excitability of infralimbic neurons reflect a possible regulatory role in the acquisition and extinction of Pavlovian conditioned fear.  Journal of Neuroscience, 28:7245-7247, PMCID: PMC667402.