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.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31)
Project #
5F31DA014464-02
Application #
6534611
Study Section
Human Development Research Subcommittee (NIDA)
Program Officer
Babecki, Beth
Project Start
2002-09-01
Project End
Budget Start
2002-09-01
Budget End
2003-08-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$20,906
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Andrzejewski, Matthew E; Schochet, Terri L; Feit, Elizabeth C et al. (2011) A comparison of adult and adolescent rat behavior in operant learning, extinction, and behavioral inhibition paradigms. Behav Neurosci 125:93-105
Schochet, Terri L; Bremer, Quentin Z; Brownfield, Mark S et al. (2008) The dendritically targeted protein Dendrin is induced by acute nicotine in cortical regions of adolescent rat brain. Eur J Neurosci 28:1967-79
Schochet, T L; Kelley, A E; Landry, C F (2005) Differential expression of arc mRNA and other plasticity-related genes induced by nicotine in adolescent rat forebrain. Neuroscience 135:285-97
Schochet, Terri L; Kelley, Ann E; Landry, Charles F (2004) Differential behavioral effects of nicotine exposure in adolescent and adult rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 175:265-73