CANNABINOID EFFECTS ON A NEURAL CIRCUIT FOR LEARNING

大麻素对学习神经回路的影响

• 批准号: 6342253
• 负责人: KENNETH M SODERSTROM
• 金额: $ 4.1万
• 依托单位: FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-01-01 至
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6342253
• 关键词: animal genetic material tag; behavioral /social science research tag; biological models; cannabinoid receptor; cannabinoids; central neural pathway /tract; developmental psychology; drug adverse effect; ethology; learning disorders; memory; psychopharmacology; receptor expression; songbirds; vocalization

Cannabinoids are the class of drugs found in marijuana. These drugs have been used throughout history for medicinal and recreational purposes. Despite a long history of use, an understanding of the mechanism of cannabinoid action is just beginning to emerge. The natural role of cannabinoids is also not well understood but may be related to motor function, pain perception, learning and memory. The importance of understanding the role of cannabinoid signaling is increasing as marijuana and cannabinoids are more seriously considered for wider medicinal use. Better understanding of cannabinoid activity is dependent upon development of model systems that will allow investigation of specific aspects of cannabinoid effects. The zebra finch, a songbird, is a good choice for development of such a model because its singing is a behavior that is learned during sensitive periods of development, similar to human language acquisition. Studying cannabinoid effects on song behavior may allow better understanding of cannabinoid effects on learning and memory over the course of vertebrate development. Preliminary experiments have shown that cannabinoid receptors are expressed in areas of the zebra finch brain known to be involved in learning and maintenance of song behavior. The connections between these cannabinoid receptor-expressing neurons in song regions and neurons in other brain regions will be investigated. Also, the expression of cannabinoid receptors will be investigated over the course of song learning. The effects of exposure of juvenile finches to cannabinoids while memorizing and practicing the reproduction of song will be determined. Finally the cDNA sequence of the zebra finch cannabinoid receptor will be determined and compared to those cloned in other species.

大麻素是大麻中发现的一类药物。 这些药物在历史上一直被用于医疗和娱乐目的。 尽管大麻素的使用历史悠久，但人们对大麻素作用机制的了解才刚刚开始。 大麻素的自然作用也尚不清楚，但可能与运动功能、疼痛感知、学习和记忆有关。 随着大麻和大麻素被更认真地考虑用于更广泛的医学用途，了解大麻素信号传导作用的重要性日益增加。 对大麻素活性的更好理解取决于模型系统的开发，该系统将允许研究大麻素效应的特定方面。 斑胸草雀是一种鸣禽，是开发这种模型的不错选择，因为它的歌唱是在发育敏感时期习得的行为，类似于人类语言习得。 研究大麻素对鸣叫行为的影响可能有助于更好地了解大麻素在脊椎动物发育过程中对学习和记忆的影响。 初步实验表明，大麻素受体在斑胸草雀大脑中参与学习和维持鸣叫行为的区域表达。 将研究这些歌曲区域中表达大麻素受体的神经元与其他大脑区域的神经元之间的联系。此外，还将在歌曲学习过程中研究大麻素受体的表达。 将确定幼雀在记忆和练习唱歌时接触大麻素的影响。 最后，斑胸草雀大麻素受体的 cDNA 序列将被确定，并与其他物种中克隆的序列进行比较。