Department of Pharmacology, Bosch Institute, University of Sydney, Australia.
Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2011 Jun;14(5):631-43. doi: 10.1017/S146114571000091X. Epub 2010 Aug 12.
Cannabis increases the risk of schizophrenia in genetically vulnerable individuals. In this study we aim to show that the schizophrenia susceptibility gene neuregulin 1 (Nrg1) modulates the development of tolerance to cannabinoids in mice. Nrg1 heterozygous (HET) and wild-type (WT) mice were treated daily for 15 d with the synthetic analogue of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, CP55,940 (0.4 mg/kg). We measured the impact of this exposure on locomotor activity, anxiety, prepulse inhibition (PPI), body temperature and FosB/ΔFosB immunohistochemistry. Tolerance to CP55,940-induced hypothermia and locomotor suppression developed more rapidly in Nrg1 HET mice than WT mice. Conversely in the light-dark test, while tolerance to the anxiogenic effect of CP55,940 developed in WT mice over days of testing, Nrg1 hypomorphs maintained marked anxiety even after 15 d of treatment. Repeated cannabinoid exposure selectively increased FosB/ΔFosB expression in the lateral septum, ventral part (LSV) of Nrg1 HET but not WT mice. On day 1 of exposure opposite effects of CP55,940 treatment were observed on PPI, i.e. it was facilitated in Nrg1 hypomorphs and impaired in WT mice, despite the drug significantly impairing the acoustic startle reflex equally in both genotypes. These effects of CP55,940 on PPI were not maintained as both genotypes became tolerant to cannabinoid action with repeated exposure. Our results highlight that Nrg1 modulates the development of cannabinoid tolerance dependent on the parameter being measured. Furthermore, these data reinforce the notion that the VLS is an important brain region involved in Nrg1-cannabinoid interactions.
大麻会增加遗传易感性个体患精神分裂症的风险。在这项研究中,我们旨在证明精神分裂症易感基因神经调节蛋白 1(Nrg1)调节了小鼠对大麻素的耐受性的发展。Nrg1 杂合子(HET)和野生型(WT)小鼠每天用合成的Δ9-四氢大麻酚类似物 CP55,940(0.4mg/kg)处理 15 天。我们测量了这种暴露对运动活动、焦虑、前脉冲抑制(PPI)、体温和 FosB/ΔFosB 免疫组织化学的影响。CP55,940 诱导的体温降低和运动抑制在 Nrg1 HET 小鼠中比 WT 小鼠更快地产生了耐受性。相反,在明暗测试中,尽管 WT 小鼠在几天的测试中对 CP55,940 的焦虑作用产生了耐受性,但 Nrg1 低表达型小鼠在 15 天的治疗后仍然表现出明显的焦虑。反复的大麻素暴露选择性地增加了 Nrg1 HET 但不是 WT 小鼠外侧隔核腹侧部分(LSV)的 FosB/ΔFosB 表达。在暴露的第 1 天,CP55,940 处理对 PPI 产生了相反的影响,即它在 Nrg1 低表达型小鼠中促进了 PPI,而在 WT 小鼠中损害了 PPI,尽管药物对两种基因型的听觉惊跳反射都有显著的损害。随着重复暴露,CP55,940 对 PPI 的这些影响并没有持续,因为两种基因型都对大麻素的作用产生了耐受性。我们的结果强调,Nrg1 调节大麻素耐受性的发展取决于所测量的参数。此外,这些数据进一步证实了外侧隔核是 Nrg1-大麻素相互作用的一个重要脑区。