Dopamine transporter blockade during adolescence increases adult dopamine function, impulsivity, and aggression.

ABSTRACT: Sensitive developmental periods shape neural circuits and enable adaptation. However, they also engender vulnerability to factors that can perturb developmental trajectories. An understanding of sensitive period phenomena and mechanisms separate from sensory system development is still lacking, yet critical to understanding disease etiology and risk. The dopamine system is pivotal in controlling and shaping adolescent behaviors, and it undergoes heightened plasticity during that time, such that interference with dopamine signaling can have long-lasting behavioral consequences. Here we sought to gain mechanistic insight into this dopamine-sensitive period and its impact on behavior. In mice, dopamine transporter (DAT) blockade from postnatal (P) day 22 to 41 increases aggression and sensiti

SUBMITTER: Suri D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10618097 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature