Nico-teen: Mechanisms of Nicotine Reward and Withdrawal During Adolescence

描述（由申请人提供）：青少年中的烟草滥用是一个主要的健康和经济问题，但在调节青少年吸烟行为的机制方面存在关键的知识差距。我们的初步数据表明，与成年大鼠相比，青春期雄性大鼠表现出更高的尼古丁奖励和更少的尼古丁戒断。这一建议扩展了我们以前的工作，研究了调节发育敏感性和行为性别差异的神经机制。尼古丁奖励和戒断的影响。为了研究青少年尼古丁暴露产生的长期后果，我们的建议还包括在青春期预暴露于尼古丁的成年大鼠。尼古丁奖励在一定程度上是由伏隔核（NAcc）中多巴胺（DA）传递增强介导的。相反，尼古丁戒断会导致NAcc - DA水平下降。NAcc的DA传递变化是由调节起源于腹侧被盖区（VTA）的DA投射的兴奋性和抑制性系统介导的。在青春期，调节DA的兴奋系统过度发育，而抑制系统则不发达。我们假设相对于成年人，青少年会表现出更高的尼古丁奖励和更少的尼古丁戒断。这些发育差异可能是通过VTA - DA细胞体的增强兴奋和减少抑制介导的。总的来说，我们预计这些差异将在女性青少年和尼古丁暴露前的大鼠中被放大。这是根据临床研究得出的结论，这些研究表明，青春期前接触尼古丁的少女和成年人更容易长期滥用烟草。行为学研究将比较使用地点偏好程序的尼古丁奖励和使用地点厌恶程序的尼古丁戒断。神经化学研究将采用体内微透析方法来比较尼古丁给药后和尼古丁戒断期间，NAcc DA和伴随的VTA兴奋和抑制系统测量。这项研究意义重大，因为我们的发现可能对指导有关烟草管制和针对青少年和女性的警告的公共政策具有重要意义。此外，更好地了解青少年烟草滥用的机制将导致更有效地治疗年轻吸烟者，他们最有可能患上由长期吸烟引起的疾病。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Tobacco abuse among adolescents is a major health and economic concern, yet there is a critical knowledge gap regarding the mechanisms that mediate adolescent smoking behavior. Our preliminary data demonstrate that adolescent male rats display enhanced nicotine reward and reduced nicotine withdrawal relative to adults. This proposal extends our previous work by examining the neural mechanisms that mediate developmental sensitivity and sex differences in the behavioral .effects of nicotine reward and withdrawal. In order to study the long-term consequences produced by adolescent nicotine exposure, our proposal also includes adult rats pre-exposed to nicotine during adolescence. Nicotine reward is mediated in part by enhanced dopamine (DA) transmission in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc). In contrast, nicotine withdrawal produces a decrease in NAcc DA levels. Changes in NAcc DA transmission are mediated by excitatory and inhibitory systems that regulate DA projections that originate in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). During adolescence, excitatory systems that regulate DA are overdeveloped, whereas inhibitory systems are underdeveloped. We hypothesize that adolescents will display enhanced nicotine reward and reduced nicotine withdrawal relative to adults. These developmental differences are likely mediated via enhanced excitation and reduced inhibition of VTA DA cell bodies. Overall we expect that these differences will be magnified in female adolescents and nicotine pre-exposed rats. This is based on clinical studies demonstrating that teenage females and adults pre-exposed to nicotine during adolescence display enhanced vulnerability to long-term tobacco abuse. Behavioral studies will compare nicotine reward using place preference procedures and nicotine withdrawal using place aversion procedures. Neurochemical studies will employ in vivo microdialysis procedures to compare NAcc DA and concomitant measures of excitatory and inhibitory systems in the VTA following nicotine administration and during nicotine withdrawal. This research is significant because our findings may have significant implications towards guiding public policies regarding tobacco regulation and warnings directed at teenagers and females. Further, a better understanding of the mechanisms mediating adolescent tobacco abuse will lead to more effective treatments for young smokers who are most at risk of developing diseases caused by long-term smoking.