Joca Lauren, Zuloaga Damian G, Raber Jacob, Siegel Jessica A
Department of Psychology, The University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., USA.
Dev Neurosci. 2014;36(2):108-18. doi: 10.1159/000360001. Epub 2014 Mar 27.
Methamphetamine (MA) has neurotoxic effects on the adult human brain that can lead to deficits in behavior and cognition. However, relatively little research has examined the behavioral or neurotoxic effects of MA in adolescents. The rising rates of adolescent MA use make it imperative that we understand the long-term effects of MA exposure on the adolescent brain and how these effects may differ from those seen in adults. In this study, the long-term effects of MA exposure during early adolescence on behavior and the vasopressin system in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus in late adolescent and adult male and female C57BL/6J mice were examined. MA exposure increased depression-like behavior in the Porsolt forced swim test in both late adolescent and adult male and female mice. Late adolescent male mice exposed to MA also showed a decrease in the number of vasopressin-immunoreactive neurons in the paraventricular nucleus compared to sex-matched saline-treated controls. Thus, similar to humans exposed to MA during adolescence, mice exposed to MA during adolescence show increased depression-like behavior later in life. These changes in behavior may be related to MA-induced alterations in vasopressin and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, especially in males.
甲基苯丙胺（MA）对成年人类大脑具有神经毒性作用，可导致行为和认知缺陷。然而，相对较少的研究考察了MA对青少年的行为或神经毒性作用。青少年使用MA的比率不断上升，这使得我们必须了解MA暴露对青少年大脑的长期影响，以及这些影响与成年人的影响有何不同。在本研究中，研究了青春期早期暴露于MA对青春期晚期和成年期雄性和雌性C57BL/6J小鼠行为以及下丘脑室旁核中血管加压素系统的长期影响。在青春期晚期和成年期雄性和雌性小鼠的波索尔特强迫游泳试验中，MA暴露增加了类似抑郁的行为。与性别匹配的生理盐水处理对照组相比，暴露于MA的青春期晚期雄性小鼠室旁核中血管加压素免疫反应性神经元的数量也有所减少。因此，与青春期暴露于MA的人类相似，青春期暴露于MA的小鼠在生命后期表现出类似抑郁的行为增加。这些行为变化可能与MA诱导的血管加压素和下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴的改变有关，尤其是在雄性小鼠中。
