Sex-Dependent Psychoneuroendocrine Effects of THC and MDMA in an Animal Model of Adolescent Drug Consumption
PLoS ONE November 4, 2013 Alvaro Llorente‐berzal, Emma Puighermanal, Aurelijus Burokas et al. 43 citations
Adolescent rats given THC (the main psychoactive component of cannabis) and/or MDMA (ecstasy) showed lasting, sex-dependent changes in behavior and brain chemistry. MDMA reduced exploration and increased anxiety-like behavior shortly after treatment. Long-term, THC disrupted object recognition memory in females but not males. MDMA alone weakened prepulse inhibition (a measure of sensorimotor gating) at the loudest sound tested, while combining it with THC caused a similar deficit at a softer sound. In the brain, THC reduced Arc protein in the hippocampus of both sexes but in the frontal cortex only in females.