Deletion of increases the vulnerability of mice to the addiction-like effects of the cannabinoid JWH-018 upregulation of striatal NF-κB expression.

Synthetic cannabinoids have exhibited unpredictable abuse liabilities, especially self-administration (SA) responses in normal rodent models, despite seemingly inducing addiction-like effects in humans. Thus, an efficient pre-clinical model must be developed to determine cannabinoid abuse potential in animals and describe the mechanism that may mediate cannabinoid sensitivity. The knockout (KO) mice were recently discovered to be potentially sensitive to the addictive effects of psychoactive drugs. Herein, we examined the responses of KO mice to JWH-018 using SA, conditioned place preference, and electroencephalography. Additionally, the effects of repeated JWH-018 exposure on endocannabinoid- and dopamine-related genes in various addiction-associated brain regions were examined, along with protein expressions involving neuroinflammation and synaptic plasticity. KO mice exhibited greater cannabinoid-induced SA responses and place preference, along with divergent gamma wave alterations, compared to wild-type (WT) mice, implying their higher sensitivity to cannabinoids. Endocannabinoid- or dopamine-related mRNA expressions and accumbal dopamine concentrations after repeated JWH-018 exposure were not significantly different between the WT and KO mice. Further analyses revealed that repeated JWH-018 administration led to possibly greater neuroinflammation in KO mice, which may arise from upregulated NF-κB, accompanied by higher expressions of synaptic plasticity markers, which might have contributed to the development of cannabinoid addiction-related behavior in KO mice. These findings signify that increased neuroinflammation NF-κB may mediate the enhanced addiction-like responses of KO mice to cannabinoids. Altogether, KO mice may be a potential model for cannabinoid abuse susceptibility.