Title:Adolescent Substance Abuse, Transgenerational Consequences and Epigenetics
Volume: 19
Issue: 9
Author(s): Hamed Salmanzadeh , S. Mohammad Ahmadi-Soleimani, Maryam Azadi, Robert F. Halliwell*Hossein Azizi *
Affiliation:
- TJ Long School of Pharmacy, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California,United States
- Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran,Iran
Keywords:
Brain development, cannabinoids, opiates, alcohol, nicotine, adolescence.
Abstract: Adolescence is the transitional period between childhood and adulthood and a critical
period in brain development. Adolescence in humans is also associated with increased expression of
risk-taking behaviors. Epidemiological and clinical studies, for example, show a surge of drug
abuse and raise the hypothesis that the adolescent brain undergoes critical changes resulting in diminished
control. Determining how substance abuse during this critical period might cause longterm
neurobiological changes in cognition and behavior is therefore critically important. The present
work aims to provide an evaluation of the transgenerational and multi-generational phenotypes
derived from parent animals exposed to drugs of abuse only during their adolescence. Specifically,
we will consider changes found following the administration of cannabinoids, nicotine, alcohol and
opiates. In addition, epigenetic modifications of the genome following drug exposure will be discussed
as emerging evidence of the underlying adverse transgenerational effects. Notwithstanding,
much of the new data discussed here is from animal models, indicating that future clinical studies
are much needed to better understand the neurobiological consequences and mechanisms of drug
actions on the human brains’ development and maturation.