Adolescent Cannabinoid Exposure Induces a Persistent Sub-Cortical Hyper-Dopaminergic State and Associated Molecular Adaptations in the Prefrontal Cortex.
Cereb Cortex
; 27(2): 1297-1310, 2017 02 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26733534
ABSTRACT
Considerable evidence suggests that adolescent exposure to delta-9-tetrahydrocanabinol (THC), the psychoactive component in marijuana, increases the risk of developing schizophrenia-related symptoms in early adulthood. In the present study, we used a combination of behavioral and molecular analyses with in vivo neuronal electrophysiology to compare the long-term effects of adolescent versus adulthood THC exposure in rats. We report that adolescent, but not adult, THC exposure induces long-term neuropsychiatric-like phenotypes similar to those observed in clinical populations. Thus, adolescent THC exposure induced behavioral abnormalities resembling positive and negative schizophrenia-related endophenotypes and a state of neuronal hyperactivity in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) pathway. Furthermore, we observed profound alterations in several prefrontal cortical molecular pathways consistent with sub-cortical DAergic dysregulation. Our findings demonstrate a profound dissociation in relative risk profiles for adolescent versus adulthood exposure to THC in terms of neuronal, behavioral, and molecular markers resembling neuropsychiatric pathology.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Social Behavior
/
Cannabinoids
/
Dopamine
/
Prefrontal Cortex
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Cereb Cortex
Journal subject:
CEREBRO
Year:
2017
Document type:
Article