Chronic exposure to cannabinoids during adolescence causes long-lasting behavioral deficits in adult mice.
J Tomas-RoigE BenitoRoberto Carlos Agís-BalboaF PiscitelliS Hoyer-FenderV Di MarzoU Havemann-ReineckePublished in: Addiction biology (2016)
Regular use of marijuana during adolescence enhances the risk of long-lasting neurobiological changes in adulthood. The present study was aimed at assessing the effect of long-term administration of the synthetic cannabinoid WIN55212.2 during adolescence in young adult mice. Adolescent mice aged 5 weeks were subjected daily to the pharmacological action of WIN55212.2 for 3 weeks and were then left undisturbed in their home cage for a 5-week period and finally evaluated by behavioral testing. Mice that received the drug during adolescence showed memory impairment in the Morris water maze, as well as a dose-dependent memory impairment in fear conditioning. In addition, the administration of 3 mg/kg WIN55212.2 in adolescence increased adult hippocampal AEA levels and promoted DNA hypermethylation at the intragenic region of the intracellular signaling modulator Rgs7, which was accompanied by a lower rate of mRNA transcription of this gene, suggesting a potential causal relation. Although the concrete mechanisms underlying the behavioral observations remain to be elucidated, we demonstrate that long-term administration of 3 mg/kg of WIN during adolescence leads to increased endocannabinoid levels and altered Rgs7 expression in adulthood and establish a potential link to epigenetic changes.
Keyphrases
- depressive symptoms
- high fat diet induced
- young adults
- healthcare
- traumatic brain injury
- gene expression
- childhood cancer
- emergency department
- wild type
- dna methylation
- randomized controlled trial
- working memory
- type diabetes
- clinical trial
- insulin resistance
- risk assessment
- human health
- binding protein
- climate change
- study protocol
- gestational age
- electronic health record