Nicotine and Adolescent Prefrontal Cortex Development

尼古丁与青少年前额皮质发育

• 批准号: 6651491
• 负责人: Terri Schochet
• 金额: $ 2.27万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-09-01 至 2004-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6651491
• 关键词: conditioning; developmental neurobiology; gene expression; immature animal; laboratory rat; nicotine; predoctoral investigator; prefrontal lobe /cortex; substance abuse related behavior

Addiction to nicotine is highly prevalent in the adolescent population, yet little research has examined the neurobiology of nicotine in adolescence. The brain continues to undergo developmental changes in adolescence. These changes are particularly evident in the prefrontal cortex, a region critical for risk assessment and impulse control. The changes produced by nicotine in adult rat models are well documented, and it is well known that nicotine exposure during early development causes neurobehavioral defects. However, the effects of nicotine on rat adolescent behavior and development are not well documented. Not only may nicotine exposure during this critical period of development have different effects on the brain, but may cause long-lasting alterations in the prefrontal cortex. The proposed research will investigate the sensitivity of adolescent rats to nicotine, the development of drug-associated cue conditioning to nicotine, and the gene-expression changes in adolescent prefrontal cortex. In addition, the long-term effects of nicotine exposure in adolescence on drug sensitivity will be examined. The underlying notion is that the substrate of the adolescent brain is fundamentally different than that of the adult brain, and the effects of nicotine addiction may be more lasting and profound than is currently known, particularly in regions involved in executive control of behavior, such as the prefrontal cortex.

对尼古丁的成瘾在青少年人群中非常普遍，但是很少研究研究青春期的尼古丁神经生物学。大脑继续在青春期发生发育变化。这些变化在前额叶皮层中尤其明显，这是风险评估和冲动控制至关重要的区域。尼古丁在成年大鼠模型中产生的变化已得到充分的文献证明，众所周知，早期发育过程中的尼古丁暴露会导致神经行为缺陷。但是，尼古丁对大鼠青少年行为和发育的影响尚未得到充分记录。在这个关键发育时期，尼古丁的暴露不仅可能对大脑产生不同的影响，而且可能导致前额叶皮层的持久改变。拟议的研究将研究青少年大鼠对尼古丁的敏感性，与药物相关的提示条件对尼古丁的发展以及青少年前额叶皮层的基因表达变化。此外，将研究尼古丁暴露在青春期对药物敏感性的长期影响。潜在的概念是，青少年大脑的底物与成年大脑的底物根本不同，尼古丁成瘾的影响可能比目前所知的更持久和深刻，尤其是在参与行为行为行为的地区，例如前额叶皮层。