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Chronic adolescent exposure to ?-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in COMT mutant mice: impact on psychosis-related and other phenotypes.

ABSTRACT: Cannabis use confers a two-fold increase in the risk for psychosis, with adolescent use conferring even greater risk. A high-low activity catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) polymorphism may modulate the effects of adolescent ?-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) exposure on the risk for adult psychosis. Mice with knockout of the COMT gene were treated chronically with THC (4.0 and 8.0 mg/kg over 20 days) during either adolescence (postnatal days (PDs) 32-52) or adulthood (PDs 70-90). The effects of THC exposure were then assessed in adulthood across behavioral phenotypes relevant for psychosis: exploratory activity, spatial working memory (spontaneous and delayed alternation), object recognition memory, social interaction (sociability and social novelty preference), and anxiety (elevated plus maze). Adolescent THC administration induced a larger increase in exploratory activity, greater impairment in spatial working memory, and a stronger anti-anxiety effect in COMT knockouts than in wild types, primarily among males. No such effects of selective adolescent THC administration were evident for other behaviors. Both object recognition memory and social novelty preference were disrupted by either adolescent or adult THC administration, independent of genotype. The COMT genotype exerts specific modulation of responsivity to chronic THC administration during adolescence in terms of exploratory activity, spatial working memory, and anxiety. These findings illuminate the interaction between genes and adverse environmental exposures over a particular stage of development in the expression of the psychosis phenotype.

SUBMITTER: O'Tuathaigh CM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3055315 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Chronic adolescent exposure to Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in COMT mutant mice: impact on psychosis-related and other phenotypes.

O'Tuathaigh Colm M P CM Hryniewiecka Magdalena M Behan Aine A Tighe Orna O Coughlan Catherine C Desbonnet Lieve L Cannon Mary M Karayiorgou Maria M Gogos Joseph A JA Cotter David R DR Waddington John L JL

Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology 20100714 11

Cannabis use confers a two-fold increase in the risk for psychosis, with adolescent use conferring even greater risk. A high-low activity catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) polymorphism may modulate the effects of adolescent Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) exposure on the risk for adult psychosis. Mice with knockout of the COMT gene were treated chronically with THC (4.0 and 8.0 mg/kg over 20 days) during either adolescence (postnatal days (PDs) 32-52) or adulthood (PDs 70-90). The effects of TH ...[more]

PMID: 20631688

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Project description:Background: Adolescent cannabis use leads to long-lasting behavioral changes involving cognitive and reward processes. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood. To address this limitation, we performed gene network analyses using transcriptomic data from mice exposed during adolescence to Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major psychoactive component of cannabis. Methods: We injected vehicle or THC in female and male mice during the entire adolescence period. Two weeks following the last exposure, we measured recognition memory, social interaction and anxiety-related behaviors. We generated 120 RNA-seq datasets from 5 brain regions for each mouse. We performed differential gene expression analysis and constructed co-expression networks to identify THC-induced transcriptional alterations at the level of individual genes, gene networks, biological pathways, and cellular specificity. Further, we integrated THC-correlated gene networks with human traits from genome-wide association studies and performed key driver analysis to identify potential regulators of disorder-associated networks. Results: THC impaired cognitive behaviors of mice, with memory being more impacted in females, which coincided with larger transcriptional alterations in the female brain. Gene network analyses identified brain region-, cell type- and sex- specific co-expressed genes (“modules”) dysregulated by THC. THC-induced memory deficits in females were correlated with disruption of gene networks involved in endocannabinoid signaling and inflammation. Additional THC-correlated modules in both sexes involved converging pathways related to dopamine signaling and addiction processes. Moreover, the connectivity map of THC-correlated modules uncovered intra- and inter-region molecular circuitries influenced by THC. Further, modules altered by THC treatment were enriched in genes relevant for human cognition and schizophrenia. Conclusions: These findings provide novel insights concerning the genes, cell types, and pathways underlying persistent behavioral deficits induced by adolescent exposure to THC in a sex-specific manner, and highlight the connection between adolescent cannabis use and neuropsychiatric disorders in humans.

Dataset Information

Chronic adolescent exposure to ?-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in COMT mutant mice: impact on psychosis-related and other phenotypes.

Publications

Chronic adolescent exposure to Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in COMT mutant mice: impact on psychosis-related and other phenotypes.

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