Effects of ethanol, Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol, or their combination on object recognition memory and object preference in adolescent and adult male rats
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-2012
Abstract
Recent advances have been made in our understanding of the deleterious effects of both ethanol and THC on adolescent behavior and brain development. However, very little is known about the combined effects of EtOH+THC during adolescence, a time in which these drugs are often used together.. The purpose of this experiment was to: 1) determine whether EtOH and/or THC induced greater working memory impairment in adolescent than adult male rats using the novel object recognition (NOR) task; and, 2) determine whether the EtOH+THC combination would produce a more potent additive effect in adolescents than adults when compared to these drugs alone. NOR was performed with a 24 hour delay under each of the four drug conditions: vehicle; 1.5g/kg ethanol; 1.0mg/kg THC; and 1.5g/kg EtOH+1.0mg/kg THC, at 72 hour intervals. The results show that there was an age effect on working memory in NOR after the EtOH+THC challenge. Specifically, adolescent animals showed a preference for the familiar object whereas adults showed no preference for the novel or familiar object, the latter being characteristic of a classic working memory deficit. These effects were not dependent on changes in exploration across session, global activity across drug condition, or total object exploration. These novel findings clearly indicate that further understanding of this age-drug interaction is crucial to elucidating the influence that adolescent EtOH+THC use may have on repeated drug use and abuse later in life.
Recommended Citation
Swartzwelder NA, Risher ML, Abdelwahab SH, D'Abo A, Rezvani AH, Levin ED, Wilson WA, Swartzwelder HS, Acheson SK. Effects of ethanol, Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol, or their combination on object recognition memory and object preference in adolescent and adult male rats. Neuroscience Letters. 2012 Oct 3;527(1):11-5. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2012.08.037.
Comments
The version of record is available from the publisher at https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.neulet.2012.08.037
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