Proenkephalin mediates the enduring effects of adolescent cannabis exposure associated with adult opiate vulnerability.
Biological Psychiatry November 15, 2012 Hilarie C Tomasiewicz, Michelle M Jacobs, Matthew B Wilkinson et al.
Marijuana use by teenagers often predates the use of harder drugs, but the neurobiological underpinnings of such vulnerability are unknown. Animal studies suggest enhanced heroin self-administration (SA) and dysregulation of the endogenous opioid system in the nucleus accumbens shell (NAcsh) of adults following adolescent Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) exposure. However, a causal link between...