Pubertal onset as a critical transition for neural development and cognition

Juraska, Janice M.; Willing, Jari

doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2016.04.012

Cited by 198 publications

(153 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Studies examining plasma and brain levels of stimulants have found that adolescents have lower (Spear and Brake 1983;Kokoshka et al 2000;McCarthy et al 2004;Craig et al 2014), higher (Caster et al, 2005), or similar levels (McCarthy et al, 2004;Caster et al, 2005) compared to adults. Based on the extensive changes occurring in the brain during adolescence (Andersen et al 1997(Andersen et al , 2000Dagher et al 2001;Koss et al 2014;Juraska and Willing 2017), another possibility is that differences in pharmacodynamics (e.g. dopamine transporter function; Volz et al, 2009) contribute to our findings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced sensitivity to reinforcement in adolescent compared to adult Sprague-Dawley rats of both sexes

Hankosky¹,

Westbrook²,

Haake³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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RATIONALE: Adolescence is a period of considerable development of brain and behavior and is the time during which most drug use is initiated. OBJECTIVE: Age-dependent differences in motivated behaviors may be one of the factors that contribute to heightened vulnerability to developing substance use disorders, so we sought to compare age differences in methamphetamine (METH) and saccharin seeking. METHODS: Beginning during adolescence or adulthood, male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to self-administer 0.1% saccharin (via liquid dipper cup) or intravenous METH at one of three doses (0.02, 0.05, 0.08 mg/kg/inf) under increasing fixed ratio schedules of reinforcement. Subsequently, responding for METH (0.02, 0.05, 0.08 or 0.1 mg/kg/inf) under progressive ratio response requirements was assessed in rats that acquired METH self-administration at the highest dose (0.08 mg/kg/inf). RESULTS:We found that adult-onset rats acquired METH self-administration more readily and exhibited higher motivation compared to adolescent-onset rats, although there were no differences in METH intake during acquisition. Adult rats also acquired saccharin selfadministration more readily, but in contrast to METH, there were age and sex differences in saccharin intake driven by high levels of responding in adult females. CONCLUSIONS: These findings challenge the prevailing notion that adolescents are hypersensitive to reward and instead raise questions about the potential role of methodological factors on which rodent studies often differ.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced sensitivity to reinforcement in adolescent compared to adult Sprague-Dawley rats of both sexes

Hankosky¹,

Westbrook²,

Haake³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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“…Considerable evidence indicates that the medial prefrontal cortex exhibits age-dependent sexual dimorphism [38-40]. For example, there is a loss of volume during adolescence, which is at least partially attributable to a loss of neurons, which is more significant in females [41].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neonatal Stress Has a Long-Lasting Sex-Dependent Effect on Anxiety-Like Behavior and Neuronal Morphology in the Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampus

et al. 2018

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The long-lasting effects of early stress on brain development have been well studied. Recent evidence indicates that males and females respond differently to the same stressor. We examined the chronic effects of daily maternal separation (MS) on behavior and cerebral morphology in both male and female rats. Cognitive and anxiety-like behaviors were evaluated, and neuroplastic changes in 2 subregions of the prefrontal cortex (dorsal agranular insular cortex [AID] and cingulate cortex [Cg3]) and hippocampus (CA1 and dentate gyrus) were measured in adult male and female rats. The animals were subjected to MS on postnatal day (P) 3–14 for 3 h per day. Cognitive and emotional behaviors were assessed in the object/context mismatch task, elevated plus maze, and locomotor activity test in early adulthood (P87–P95). Anatomical assessments were performed in the prefrontal cortex (i.e., cortical thickness and spine density) and hippocampus (i.e., spine density). Sex-dependent effects were observed. MS increased anxiety-related behavior only in males, whereas locomotor activity was higher in females, with no effects on cognition. MS decreased spine density in the AID and increased spine density in the CA1 area in males. Females exhibited an increase in spine density in the Cg3. Our findings confirm previous work that found that MS causes long-term behavioral and anatomical effects, and these effects were dependent on sex and the duration of MS stress.

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“…This emergent sexual dimorphism also appears to be driven by ovarian hormones because prepubertal GDX significantly increases white matter volume in females but does not affect white matter volume in males (Koss, et al, 2015). Thus, under normative developmental conditions, the emergence of sex differences in mPFC gray and white matter during adolescence in rats are due to the actions of ovarian, not testicular, hormones on cell death, synaptic pruning, and myelination (Juraska & Willing, 2016). The situation appears to be different for adolescent development of white matter in humans, as the steeper increase in white matter volume in adolescent boys compared with girls is related to higher levels of testosterone (Perrin, et al, 2008; see also Gur and Gur in this volume).…”

Section: 5 Neurobiological Mechanisms Underlying Hormone-dependent mentioning

confidence: 99%

The organizing actions of adolescent gonadal steroid hormones on brain and behavioral development

Schulz

Sisk

2016

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

253

156

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Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by dramatic changes in cognition, risk-taking and social behavior. Although gonadal steroid hormones are well-known mediators of these behaviors in adulthood, the role gonadal steroid hormones play in shaping the adolescent brain and behavioral development has only come to light in recent years. Here we discuss the sex-specific impact of gonadal steroid hormones on the developing adolescent brain. Indeed, the effects of gonadal steroid hormones during adolescence on brain structure and behavioral outcomes differs markedly between the sexes. Research findings suggest that adolescence, like the perinatal period, is a sensitive period for the sex-specific effects of gonadal steroid hormones on brain and behavioral development. Furthermore, evidence from studies on male sexual behavior suggests that adolescence is part of a protracted postnatal sensitive period that begins perinatally and ends following adolescence. As such, the perinatal and peripubertal periods of brain and behavioral organization likely do not represent two discrete sensitive periods, but instead are the consequence of normative developmental timing of gonadal hormone secretions in males and females.

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Pubertal onset as a critical transition for neural development and cognition

Cited by 198 publications

References 79 publications

Reduced sensitivity to reinforcement in adolescent compared to adult Sprague-Dawley rats of both sexes

Reduced sensitivity to reinforcement in adolescent compared to adult Sprague-Dawley rats of both sexes

Neonatal Stress Has a Long-Lasting Sex-Dependent Effect on Anxiety-Like Behavior and Neuronal Morphology in the Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampus

The organizing actions of adolescent gonadal steroid hormones on brain and behavioral development

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