Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
January 8, 2024
Timothy G. Freels, Sara R Westbrook, Erica Zamberletti et al.
Introduction: Cannabis is the most used illicit drug in the United States. With many states passing legislation to permit its recreational use, there is concern that cannabis use among adolescents could increase dramatically in the coming years. Historically, it has been difficult to model real-world cannabis use to investigate the causal relationship between cannabis use in adolescence and...
British Journal of Pharmacology
July 13, 2023
Sabrine Bilel, Erica Zamberletti, Lucia Caffino et al.
Background and purpose: Psychotic disorders have been reported in long-term users of synthetic cannabinoids. This study aims at investigating the long-lasting effects of repeated JWH-018 exposure. Experimental approach: Male CD-1 mice were injected with vehicle, JWH-018 (6 mg·kg-1 ), the CB1 -antagonist NESS-0327 (1 mg·kg-1 ) or co-administration of NESS-0327 and JWH-018, every day for 7 days....
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
February 1, 2023
Michele Santoni, Claudia Sagheddu, V. Serra et al.
Prenatal infections can increase the risk of developing psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia in the offspring, especially when combined with other postnatal insults. Here, we tested, in a rat model of prenatal immune challenge by the viral mimic polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidilic acid, whether maternal immune activation (MIA) affects the endocannabinoid system and...
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
January 22, 2023
Timothy G. Freels, Sara R Westbrook, Hayden R Wright et al.
preprint
Cannabis is the most used illicit drug in the United States. With many states passing legislation to permit its recreational use, there is concern that cannabis use among adolescents could increase dramatically in the coming years. Historically, it has been difficult to model real-world cannabis use to investigate the causal relationship between cannabis use in adolescence and behavioral and...
Molecules
February 1, 2022
Erica Zamberletti, Tiziana Rubino
Cannabis is still the most widely used illicit drug around the world. While its use has always been prevalent among adolescents, recent evidence suggests that its consumption is also increasing among other population groups, such as pregnant women and aged people. Given the known impact of cannabis on brain development and behavior, it is important to dissect the possible long-term impact of...
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
August 18, 2021
Marina Gabaglio, Erica Zamberletti, Cristina Manenti et al.
Cannabis is the most-used recreational drug worldwide, with a high prevalence of use among adolescents. In animal models, long-term adverse effects were reported following chronic adolescent exposure to the main psychotomimetic component of the plant, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). However, these studies investigated the effects of pure THC, without taking into account other cannabinoids...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
November 1, 2018
Bruna Cuccurazzu, Erica Zamberletti, Cristiano Nazzaro et al.
In rodent models, chronic exposure to cannabis' psychoactive ingredient, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, during adolescence leads to abnormal behavior in adulthood. In female rats, this maladaptive behavior is characterized by endophenotypes for depressive-like and psychotic-like disorders as well as cognitive deficits. We recently reported that most depressive-like behaviors triggered by adolescent...
Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
March 2018
Pamela Prini, Franceso Rusconi, Erica Zamberletti et al.
Increasing cannabis consumption among adolescents, studies that link its early use with mental illnesses, and the political debate on cannabis legalization together call for an urgent need to study molecular underpinnings of adolescent brain vulnerability. The emerging role of epigenetic mechanisms in psychiatric diseases led us to hypothesize that epigenetic alterations could play a role in...
Pharmacological Research
September 2016
Erica Zamberletti, Marina Gabaglio, Massimo Grilli et al.
Cannabis use has been frequently associated with sex-dependent effects on brain and behavior. We previously demonstrated that adult female rats exposed to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) during adolescence develop long-term alterations in cognitive performances and emotional reactivity, whereas preliminary evidence suggests the presence of a different phenotype in male rats. To thoroughly...
European Neuropsychopharmacology
December 2015
Erica Zamberletti, Marina Gabaglio, Pamela Prini et al.
Over 180 million people consume cannabis globally. Cannabis use peaks during adolescence with a trend for continued consumption by adults. Notably, several studies have shown that long-term and heavy cannabis use during adolescence can impair brain maturation and predispose to neurodevelopmental disorders, although the neurobiological mechanisms underlying this association remain largely...
Neurobiology of Disease
2015
Tiziana Rubino, Pamela Prini, Fabiana Piscitelli et al.
Current concepts suggest that exposure to THC during adolescence may act as a risk factor for the development of psychiatric disorders later in life. However, the molecular underpinnings of this vulnerability are still poorly understood. To analyze this, we investigated whether and how THC exposure in female rats interferes with different maturational events occurring in the prefrontal cortex...
Neurobiology of Disease
March 1, 2014
Erica Zamberletti, Sarah Beggiato, Luca Steardo et al.
Although several findings indicate an association between adolescent cannabis abuse and the risk to develop schizophrenia later in life, the evidence for a causal relationship is still inconclusive. In the present study, we investigated the emergence of psychotic-like behavior in adult female rats chronically exposed to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) during adolescence. To this aim, female...
Neuropharmacology
2011
Natalia Realini, Daniela Vigano', Cinzia Guidali et al.
We have recently shown that chronic THC administration in adolescent female rats induces subtle but lasting alterations in the emotional circuit ending in depressive-like behaviour at adulthood. Here we describe other relevant depressive-like symptoms present in these animals. Adult female rats pretreated with THC display passive coping strategy towards acute stressful situations as...