Laboratoire de Physiopathologie des maladies Psychiatriques, UMR_S894 Inserm, Centre de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, 75014 Paris, France; Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France.
CNRS, UMR 8249, 75005 Paris, France; Brain Plasticity Unit, ESPCI-ParisTech, PSL Research University, 75005 Paris, France.
Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2016 Jan;26(1):55-64. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2015.11.005. Epub 2015 Dec 3.
In many species, adolescence is a critical phase in which the endocannabinoid system can regulate the maturation of important neuronal networks that underlie cognitive function. Therefore, adolescents may be more susceptible to the neural consequences of chronic cannabis abuse. We reported previously that chronically exposing adolescent rats to the synthetic cannabinoid agonist CP55,940 leads to impaired performances in adulthood i.e. long-lasting deficits in both visual and spatial short-term working memories. Here, we examined the synaptic structure and function in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of adult rats that were chronically treated with CP55,940 during adolescence. We found that chronic cannabinoid exposure during adolescence induces long-lasting changes, including (1) significantly altered dendritic arborization of pyramidal neurons in layer II/III in the medial PFC (2) impaired hippocampal input-induced synaptic plasticity in the PFC and (3) significant changes in the expression of PSD95 (but not synaptophysin or VGLUT3) in the medial PFC. These changes in synaptic structure and function in the PFC provide key insight into the structural, functional and molecular underpinnings of long-term cognitive deficits induced by adolescent cannabinoid exposure. They suggest that cannabinoids may impede the structural maturation of neuronal circuits in the PFC, thus leading to impaired cognitive function in adulthood.
在许多物种中,青春期是一个关键阶段,内源性大麻素系统可以调节认知功能所必需的重要神经网络的成熟。因此,青少年可能更容易受到慢性大麻滥用的神经后果的影响。我们之前曾报道过,慢性暴露于合成大麻素激动剂 CP55,940 的青春期大鼠在成年后表现出受损,即视觉和空间短期工作记忆均出现持久缺陷。在这里,我们研究了在青春期接受 CP55,940 慢性治疗的成年大鼠前额叶皮层(PFC)的突触结构和功能。我们发现,青春期慢性大麻素暴露会引起持久的变化,包括(1)内侧 PFC 层 II/III 的锥体神经元树突分支明显改变(2)PFC 中海马传入诱导的突触可塑性受损,以及(3)内侧 PFC 中 PSD95(而非突触小泡或 VGLUT3)的表达发生显著变化。PFC 中突触结构和功能的这些变化为青春期大麻素暴露引起的长期认知缺陷的结构、功能和分子基础提供了重要的见解。它们表明大麻素可能会阻碍 PFC 中神经元回路的结构成熟,从而导致成年后认知功能受损。