Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine are saying they believe that frequent use of marijuana during adolescence could lead to damaged brain function and therefore boost the risk for psychiatric problems like schizophrenia in adulthood.
Researchers exposed young mice to very low doses of the active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), for a total of 20 days then returned the mice to their families to continue development.
Researchers found that the cortical oscillations of these mice, upon reaching adulthood, had been severely modified. On top of that, the mice displayed indications of impaired cognitive functions.
Their findings have been published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology and were focused on these cortical oscillations – patterns, or the brain's neuron activity. When psychiatric disorders are present, these oscillations become abnormal.
Brief, low-dose exposure can have lasting effects
Said researcher Sylvina Mullins Raver from the University of Maryland:
The striking finding is that, even though the mice were exposed to very low drug doses, and only for a brief period during adolescence, their brain abnormalities persisted into adulthood.
This research had initially been designed to look at the effects of marijuana on cortical oscillations in adults, but they found that cognitive behavior and cortical oscillations in adults after THC exposure remained unchanged. The next step became determining when, if ever, the change would occur.
During adolescence, marijuana use can take greatest toll
The researchers concluded that adolescence was the period of development when marijuana use can take its biggest toll. Said senior author Dr. Asaf Keller:
We looked at the different regions of the brain. The back of the brain develops first, and the frontal parts of the brain develop during adolescence. We found that the frontal cortex is much more affected by the drugs during adolescence. This is the area of the brain that controls executive functions, such as planning and impulse control. It is also the area most affected in schizophrenia.
Keller also noted that there is very likely some genetics at work, probably some genetic vulnerability towards some psychiatric disorders, and adding marijuana use to the growing, developing brain may only exacerbate the vulnerability.
Source: MNT
