A new target for marijuana

This working model shows how chronic exposure to the psychoactive component of marijuana may increase dopamine levels by altering the function of an inhibitory cell type, contributing to the drug’s pleasurable and potentially addictive qualities. Credit: Friend et al., JNeurosci (2017)

Cellular-level changes to a part of the brain’s reward system induced by chronic exposure to the psychoactive component of marijuana may contribute to the drug’s pleasurable and potentially addictive qualities, suggests a study in young mice published in Journal of Neuroscience. The results could advance our understanding of marijuana’s effects on the developing brain as the drug’s rapidly changing legal status increases its recreational and medical use in the United States.

Drugs of abuse impact the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain, which is rich in dopamine neurons. Using juvenile and adolescent mice, Jeffrey Edwards and colleagues investigated the…

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