Sensory Gating Impairments in Heavy Cannabis Users are Associated with Altered Neural Oscillations
Chad R. Edwards, Patrick D. Skosnik, Adam B. Steinmetz, B. O’Donnell, W. Hetrick
Behavioral Neuroscience August 1, 2009 DOI: 10.1037/a0016328 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 33 |
| Population | 17 heavy cannabis users and 16 cannabis-naive controls |
| Measures | P50 amplitude, event-related spectral perturbations (ERSP), inter-trial coherence (ITC) |
| Topics | Cannabis |
| Key findings | Cannabis users exhibited reduced P50 gating, attenuated beta (13-29 Hz) activity post-S1, attenuated gamma (30-50 Hz) activity post-S2, and reduced theta (4-7 Hz) inter-trial coherence post-S2 compared to controls. Greater cannabis use was associated with higher P50 ratios and lower post-S2 gamma power. |
Abstract
Central cannabinoid receptors are thought to mediate neural oscillations and are localized to brain regions implicated in auditory P50 sensory gating, including the hippocampus and neocortex. The current study therefore examined if neural oscillations evoked by the paired clicks (S1, S2) are associated with impaired P50 gating reported in cannabis users. Seventeen heavy cannabis users and 16 cannabis naïve controls participated. Analyses included P50 amplitudes, and time x frequency analyses examining event-related spectral perturbations (ERSP) and inter-trial coherence (ITC). In agreement with prior studies, cannabis users exhibited reduced P50 gating. The ERSP analysis yielded attenuated high frequency activity in the beta range (13-29 Hz) post-S1 and in the gamma range (30-50 Hz) post-S2 in the cannabis group, compared to the control group. Attenuated ITC was also observed in the cannabis group in the post-S2 theta band (4-7 Hz). Greater levels of cannabis use were positively associated with high P50 ratios and negatively with post-S2 ERSP gamma power. These findings suggest that heavy cannabis use is associated with aberrant beta and gamma activity in the dual-click procedure, which corroborates recent work demonstrating disruption of beta/gamma by cannabinoid receptor (CB1) agonists in a rat analogue of this procedure and highlights the translational potential of the dual-click procedure.