Effects of repeated adolescent exposure to cannabis smoke on cognitive outcomes in adulthood

Cannabis (marijuana) is the most widely used illicit drug in the USA, and consumption among adolescents is rising. Some animal studies show that adolescent exposure to delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol or synthetic cannabinoid receptor 1 agonists causes alterations in affect and cognition that can persist into adulthood. It is less clear, however, whether similar alterations result from exposure to cannabis via smoke inhalation, which remains the most frequent route of administration in humans.

To begin to address these questions, a rat model was used to determine how cannabis smoke exposure during adolescence affects behavioral and cognitive outcomes in adulthood.

Adolescent male Long-Evans rats were assigned to clean air, placebo smoke, or cannabis smoke groups. Clean air or smoke exposure sessions were conducted daily during adolescence (from P29–P49 days of age ) for a total of 21 days, and behavioral testing began on P70.

Compared to clean air and placebo smoke conditions, cannabis smoke significantly attenuated the normal developmental increase in body weight, but had no effects on several measures of either affect/motivation (open field activity, elevated plus maze, instrumental responding under a progressive ratio schedule of reinforcement) or cognition (set shifting, reversal learning, intertemporal choice). Surprisingly, however, in comparison to clean air controls rats exposed to either cannabis or placebo smoke in adolescence exhibited enhanced performance on a delayed response working memory task.

These findings are consistent with a growing body of evidence for limited long-term adverse cognitive and affective consequences of adolescent exposure to relatively low levels of cannabinoids.