Hippocampus
August 2009
Tiziana Rubino, Natalia Realini, Daniela Braida et al.
Marijuana and hashish are the illicit drugs most frequently used by human adolescents. Given the continued neurodevelopment throughout adolescence, adolescents may be more vulnerable than adults to certain neural consequences of heavy marijuana use. This study aimed to assess whether an experimental model of adolescent chronic exposure to Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), may induce lasting...
British Journal of Pharmacology
May 5, 2009
Daniela Braida, Valeria Capurro, Alessia Zani et al.
145 citations
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Drugs targeting brain kappa-opioid receptors produce profound alterations in mood. In the present study we investigated the possible anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects of the kappa-opioid receptor agonist salvinorin A, the main active ingredient of Salvia divinorum, in rats and mice. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Experiments were performed on male Sprague-Dawley rats...
Neurotoxicity Research
May 2009
Tiziana Rubino, Natalia Realini, Daniela Braida et al.
We recently demonstrated that Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) chronic administration in female adolescent rats induces alterations in the emotional circuit ending in depressive-like behavior in adulthood. Since cognitive dysfunction is a major component of depression, we assessed in these animals at adulthood different forms of memory. Adolescent female rats were treated with THC or its...
Neuropharmacology
January 2008
Tiziana Rubino, Cinzia Guidali, Daniela Viganò et al.
There is a general consensus that the effects of cannabinoid agonists on anxiety seem to be biphasic, with low doses being anxiolytic and high doses ineffective or possibly anxiogenic. Besides the behavioural effects of cannabinoids on anxiety, very few papers have dealt with the neuroanatomical sites of these effects. We investigated the effect on rat anxiety behavior of local administration...
Neuropsychopharmacology
September 2007
Tiziana Rubino, Mariaelvina Sala, Daniela Viganò et al.
We investigated the effect of low doses of intraperitoneal Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on anxiety behavior in rats using the elevated plus maze (EPM). An anxiolytic effect was obtained in a range of doses between 0.075 and 1.5 mg/kg, the 0.75 dose being the most effective. Pretreatment with the CB1 receptor antagonist AM251 fully reversed THC's effect, suggesting CB1 receptors were...
Molecular and cellular neurosciences
March 2004
Tiziana Rubino, Greta Forlani, Daniela Viganò et al.
Acute Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) injection increased ERK pathway (ERK, pCREB, and c-fos) mostly in the caudate putamen and cerebellum. This effect underwent to homeostatic adaptation after chronic treatment. Moreover, chronic THC exposure induced increases in the ERK cascade (ERK, pCREB, and Fos B) in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, suggesting that different neuronal circuits...