The pervasive use of marijuana (cannabis sativa) worldwide, along with its relatively low lethality, has led many to believe that it is of little harm. As such cannabis use currently exceeds that of tobacco smoking among adolescents in the USA. However, is now acknowledged that the developing brain is particularly sensitive to drugs that can impact behavior in adulthood. This is of particular concern given that cannabis is the most commonly abused illicit drug by teens and pregnant women. Our research continues to focus on the impact of ?9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major psychoactive component of cannabis associated with reward and psychiatric vulnerability. We demonstrated that THC exposure in the developing brain has protracted effects long into adulthood on molecular and behavioral outcomes relevant to reward sensitivity, motivated behavior and negative affect. Our established prenatal animal model mimiced molecular changes in mesocorticolimbic structures to that seen in our human fetal specimens with maternal cannabis use. Moreover, a number of molecular changes relevant to epigenetic disturbances and synaptic plasticity are also commonly evident in adults with adolescent THC exposure emphasizing common underlying mechanisms of developmental THC effects. We identified a specific epigenetic molecular target (Mll1; multiple leukemia ) directly linked to abnormal motivated behavior induced by developmental THC and have developed state-of-the-art strategies such as laser capture microdissection (LCM) to dissect transcriptome and epigenetic alterations in discrete neuronal pathways. We now employ such strategies to delineate pathway-specific alterations of epigenetic mechanisms across the genome associated with developmental THC. Our study focuses on the nucleus accumbens (NAc), which mediates reward, motivated behavior and emotional regulation linked to addiction vulnerability and related psychopathologies. We propose to (1) characterize changes in the epigenome within discrete adult NAc pathways associated with developmental THC exposure and its relationship to transcription using LCM and deep sequencing of chromatin accessibility and overlap with transcriptome data. (2) Establish causal links between molecular alterations identified in specific NAc output pathways wtih behavioral phenotypes relevant to addiction psychopathology. (3) Investigate patterns of adult in vivo neural activity within specific NAc pathways as a consequence of developmental THC exposure using the innovative technique of fiber photometry calcium imaging in a pathway-specific manner. The databases generated from this in-depth body of work will be valuable resources and the results will provide novel insights about the role of specific NAc neural circuits underlying psychopathological vulnerability.

Public Health Relevance

Marijuana is the illicit drug most used by pregnant women and teens. Expanding knowledge regarding the long-term impact of developmental marijuana exposure on specific neurobiological events causally linked to behavioral disturbances will provide significant insights as to the discrete neurobiological mechanisms that may underlie the vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorders.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DA030359-08
Application #
9464518
Study Section
Pathophysiological Basis of Mental Disorders and Addictions Study Section (PMDA)
Program Officer
Wu, Da-Yu
Project Start
2011-09-30
Project End
2021-04-30
Budget Start
2018-05-01
Budget End
2019-04-30
Support Year
8
Fiscal Year
2018
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
078861598
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10029
Miller, Michael L; Chadwick, Benjamin; Dickstein, Dara L et al. (2018) Adolescent exposure to ?9-tetrahydrocannabinol alters the transcriptional trajectory and dendritic architecture of prefrontal pyramidal neurons. Mol Psychiatry :
Mazzone, C M; Pati, D; Michaelides, M et al. (2018) Acute engagement of Gq-mediated signaling in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis induces anxiety-like behavior. Mol Psychiatry 23:143-153
Szutorisz, Henrietta; Hurd, Yasmin L (2018) High times for cannabis: Epigenetic imprint and its legacy on brain and behavior. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 85:93-101
Miller, M L; Ren, Y; Szutorisz, H et al. (2018) Ventral striatal regulation of CREM mediates impulsive action and drug addiction vulnerability. Mol Psychiatry 23:1328-1335
Michaelides, Michael; Miller, Michael L; DiNieri, Jennifer A et al. (2017) Dopamine D2 Receptor Signaling in the Nucleus Accumbens Comprises a Metabolic-Cognitive Brain Interface Regulating Metabolic Components of Glucose Reinforcement. Neuropsychopharmacology 42:2365-2376
Miller, Michael L; Hurd, Yasmin L (2017) Testing the Gateway Hypothesis. Neuropsychopharmacology 42:985-986
Szutorisz, Henrietta; Egervári, Gabor; Sperry, James et al. (2016) Cross-generational THC exposure alters the developmental sensitivity of ventral and dorsal striatal gene expression in male and female offspring. Neurotoxicol Teratol 58:107-114
Szutorisz, Henrietta; Hurd, Yasmin L (2016) Epigenetic Effects of Cannabis Exposure. Biol Psychiatry 79:586-94
Urban, Daniel J; Zhu, Hu; Marcinkiewcz, Catherine A et al. (2016) Elucidation of The Behavioral Program and Neuronal Network Encoded by Dorsal Raphe Serotonergic Neurons. Neuropsychopharmacology 41:1404-15
Parsons, Loren H; Hurd, Yasmin L (2015) Endocannabinoid signalling in reward and addiction. Nat Rev Neurosci 16:579-94

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