1. Prenatal alcohol and cannabis exposure can have opposing and region-specific effects on parvalbumin interneuron numbers in the hippocampus.
- Author
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Reid HMO, Snowden TM, Shkolnikov I, Breit KR, Rodriguez C, Thomas JD, and Christie BR
- Subjects
- Animals, Cannabis metabolism, Dentate Gyrus drug effects, Female, Hippocampus drug effects, Interneurons drug effects, Parvalbumins drug effects, Pregnancy, Rats, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists pharmacology, Hippocampus metabolism, Interneurons metabolism, Parvalbumins metabolism, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects metabolism
- Abstract
Background: We recently showed that alcohol and cannabis can interact prenatally, and in a recent review paper, we identified parvalbumin-positive (PV) interneurons in the hippocampus as a potential point of convergence for these teratogens., Methods: A 2 (Ethanol [EtOH], Air) × 2 (tetrahydrocannabinol [THC], Vehicle) design was used to expose pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats to either EtOH or air, in addition to either THC or the inhalant vehicle solution, during gestational days 5-20. Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect PV interneurons in 1 male and 1 female pup from each litter at postnatal day 70., Results: Significant between-group and subregion-specific effects were found in the dorsal cornu ammonis 1 (CA1) subfield and the ventral dentate gyrus (DG). In the dorsal CA1 subfield, there was an increase in the number of PV interneurons in both the EtOH and EtOH +THC groups, but a decrease with THC alone. There were fewer changes in interneuron numbers overall in the DG, though there was a sex difference, with a decrease in the number of PV interneurons in the THC-exposed group in males. There was also a greater cell layer volume in the DG in the EtOH +THC group than the control group, and in the CA1 region in the EtOH group compared to the control and THC groups., Conclusions: Prenatal exposure to alcohol and THC differentially affects parvalbumin-positive interneuron numbers in the hippocampus, indicating that both individual and combined exposure can impact the balance of excitation and inhibition in a structure critically involved in learning and memory processes., (© 2021 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.)
- Published
- 2021
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