Prenatal THC exposure drives sex-specific alterations in spatial memory and hippocampal excitatory/inhibitory balance in adolescent rats.
Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie December 1, 2024 Valentina Castelli, Gianluca Lavanco, Giuseppe Tringali et al.
Prenatal exposure to THC, the main psychoactive component of cannabis, disrupts spatial memory and alters the balance of excitatory and inhibitory signaling in the hippocampus in a sex-specific manner. In adolescent male rats, THC exposure impaired memory retrieval and flexibility, reduced the density of a key type of inhibitory interneuron (CCK-positive basket cells), and increased markers of neuroplasticity. In females, memory retrieval was delayed but flexibility was spared, and the density of those inhibitory interneurons increased. The findings suggest male offspring are more vulnerable to prenatal THC's effects on memory processing, with sex-specific changes in synaptic plasticity and excitatory/inhibitory balance.