Department of Drug Discovery and Development, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
Department of Drug Discovery and Development, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA; Center for Neuroscience Initiative, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
Neuropharmacology. 2019 May 1;149:181-194. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2019.02.018. Epub 2019 Feb 13.
Marijuana is one of the most commonly used illicit drugs worldwide. In addition, use of synthetic cannabinoids is increasing, especially among adolescents and young adults. Although human studies have shown that the use of marijuana during pregnancy leads to adverse behavioral effects, such as deficiencies in attention and executive function in affected offspring, the rate of marijuana use among pregnant women is steadily increasing. Various aspects of human behavior including emotion, learning, and memory are dependent on complex interactions between multiple neurotransmitter systems that are especially vulnerable to alterations during the developmental period. Thus, exploration of neurotransmitter changes in response to prenatal cannabinoid exposure is crucial to develop an understanding of how homeostatic imbalance and various long-term neurobehavioral deficits manifest following the abuse of marijuana or other synthetic cannabinoids during pregnancy. Current literature confirms that vast alterations to neurotransmitter systems are present following prenatal cannabinoid exposure, and many of these alterations within the brain are region specific, time-dependent, and sexually dimorphic. In this review, we aim to provide a summary of observed changes to various neurotransmitter systems following cannabinoid exposure during pregnancy and to draw possible correlations to reported behavioral alterations in affected offspring.
大麻是全球最常用的非法药物之一。此外，合成大麻素的使用正在增加，尤其是在青少年和年轻成年人中。尽管人类研究表明，怀孕期间使用大麻会导致行为异常，例如受影响的后代注意力和执行功能缺陷，但孕妇使用大麻的比例仍在稳步上升。人类的各种行为，包括情绪、学习和记忆，都依赖于多种神经递质系统之间的复杂相互作用，而这些系统在发育期间特别容易发生变化。因此，探索神经递质对产前大麻素暴露的反应对于理解在怀孕期间滥用大麻或其他合成大麻素后，如何出现体内平衡失调和各种长期神经行为缺陷至关重要。目前的文献证实，产前大麻素暴露后，神经递质系统会发生巨大变化，大脑内的许多变化具有区域特异性、时间依赖性和性别二态性。在这篇综述中，我们旨在总结怀孕期间接触大麻素后各种神经递质系统的变化，并尽可能将其与受影响后代报告的行为改变联系起来。
