The recent shift in sociopolitical debates and growing liberalization of cannabis use across the globe has raised concern regarding its impact on vulnerable populations, such as pregnant women and adolescents. Epidemiological studies have long demonstrated a relationship between developmental cannabis exposure and later mental health symptoms. This relationship is especially strong in people with particular genetic polymorphisms, suggesting that cannabis use interacts with genotype to increase mental health risk. Seminal animal research directly linked prenatal and adolescent exposure to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the major psychoactive component of cannabis, with protracted effects on adult neural systems relevant to psychiatric and substance use disorders. In this article, we discuss some recent advances in understanding the long-term molecular, epigenetic, electrophysiological, and behavioral consequences of prenatal, perinatal, and adolescent exposure to cannabis/delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Insigh...

Background. The dentate gyrus (DG) is a region of the hippocampal formation characterized by a single layer of densely packed granule cells, followed by an underlying polymorphic layer of the long-projecting hilus neurons. The granule cells receive inpu...

Medical use of cannabinoids by adults has grown in popularity as state laws have increased legal access. Children and adolescents are also now being treated with medical cannabis usually involving a combination of THC (the primary psychoactive component...

Legalization of recreational and medical cannabis has led to greater numbers of cannabis consumers, with individuals over the age of 65 being one of the fastest growing demographics of new users. While cannabis may offer some benefits to older adults (e...

The brain’s endogenous cannabinoid system, or endocannabinoids (eCBs), are a family of signaling molecules essential for normal brain development. By acting on cannabinoid receptors (either the CB1 receptor or CB2 receptor), eCBs promote progenitor prol...

Chronic repeated exposure to marijuana’s major psychoactive compound, ∆9-tetrahydro-cannabinol (THC) during adolescence results in complex cognitive abnormalities that are reminiscent of those produced by NMDA receptor hypofunction in the medial prefron...

Classical cannabinoids such as ∆9-THC and its analogs display potent analgesic effects that are CB1 receptor (CB1R) mediated. However, they are also known to produce rapid tolerance along with dependence. Here we report the in vivo pharmacological prope...

Accumulating evidence suggests that chronic, heavy marijuana use in teenagers is associated with long-term behavioral alterations, including memory deficits and psychotic-like behaviors. It is thought that additional factors, such as genetics and enviro...

Pathological tau aggregates occur in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative tauopathies. It is not clearly understood why tauopathies vary greatly in the neuroanatomical and histopathological patterns of tau aggregation, which contribute to clinical heterogeneity in these disorders. Recent studies have shown that tau aggregates may form distinct structural conformations, known as tau strains. Here, we developed a novel model to test the hypothesis that cell-to-cell transmission of different tau strains occurs in nontransgenic (non-Tg) mice, and to investigate whether there are strain-specific differences in the pattern of tau transmission. By injecting pathological tau extracted from postmortem brains of AD (AD-tau), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP-tau), and corticobasal degeneration (CBD-tau) patients into different brain regions of female non-Tg mice, we demonstrated the induction and propagation of endogenous mouse tau aggregates. Specifically, we identified differences in tau strain p...

Cannabis research continues to be important due to increasing legalization worldwide and uncertainties around potential benefits and/or dangers of consumption. There are also questions around the differences between acute and chronic effects of cannabis...