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How cannabis turns young rats into dope-heads
7-30-'07 | The Sydney Morning Herald | by Richard Macey

YOUNG rats high on cannabis suffer far greater memory loss, and more lasting changes in brain function than doped-up adult rodents.

Research by Sydney scientists has also found the drug is a turn-off for grown-up rats. However, the wisdom of age comes too late.

"Cannabis produces much greater long-term changes in adolescent than adult rat brains," said Iain McGregor, professor of psychopharmacology at the University of Sydney.

His research team used sophisticated cages - more like three-room houses - for the experiments. Each room was given different wallpaper and smells so the rats could tell them apart.

Adolescent and adult rats were locked in one room and injected 12 times over two weeks with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the drug's active ingredient.

When the doors were opened, allowing the rats to roam from room to room, the researchers noticed something unusual.

"The adults avoided the room where they had been under the influence of THC," Professor McGregor said. But the adolescents had no fear of the room.

Professor McGregor said the results reflected cannabis use patterns in humans. "Studies show that most adult [humans] have given it away by the time they are 30 or 35."

The rats were then left drug-free for two weeks, given blood checks to ensure they no longer had THC in their bodies, and then had their memory tested. "The 'teenagers' that had received cannabis were still memory impaired two weeks later, while the adults were fine," Professor McGregor said. "The adolescents showed poor memory for what had happened an hour ago."

Finally the researchers examined the brains of the rats, looking for tell-tale protein changes in the hippocampus, the area responsible for memory.

The adolescents that had been given cannabis had three times as many changed proteins in this brain region as the adults given the same dose.

"It was a double whammy," Professor McGregor said. "The adolescents liked cannabis more, but it was worse for their brains and their memory."

Although Professor McGregor did not want to sound as if he was preaching that cannabis was "a drug of doom", he said it was "another cautionary study about heavy use" by young people whose brains were still developing.

The findings appear in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology this month.

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SWP



"I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty." -- "If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly." -- "Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning." -- "As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns: the ones we don't know we don't know."

 

Buzzby

I suspect that has a lot more to do with the fact that people are establishing their lives at that age and decide that they have too much to lose (jobs, homes, professional licenses, etc.) if they were to get busted.

Or maybe they were just saying, "Fuck this shit! I'm not going to play these lab-coat assholes' games!" Seriously, without data on the dosage these rats received, the report is meaningless. "Scientists" typically give animals doses far in excess of anything a person would willingly take himself. You could shoot up a rat with a syringe full of ethanol and he'd walk off the edge of a table and break his neck. Then the "scientists" could report that drinking alcohol causes suicidal behavior! Drug effects are always dose-related.

Actually, it was "another cautionary study about heavy use" by young rats whose brains were still developing.

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SirSmokaALot

Damn you Buzzby beating me to "no data on dosage" part.

I wouldn't be surprised if they injected mouses with the amount of thc equal to their body weight then that will ultimately label this study useless.

Broliette

Reminds me of the Dr. Heath/Tulane Study, 1974 with the monkeys.

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Unregistered

YOUNG rats high on cannabis suffer far greater memory loss, and more lasting changes in brain function than doped-up adult rodents.

Research by Sydney scientists has also found the drug is a turn-off for grown-up rats. However, the wisdom of age comes too late.

"Cannabis produces much greater long-term changes in adolescent than adult rat brains," said Iain McGregor, professor of psychopharmacology at the University of Sydney.

His research team used sophisticated cages - more like three-room houses - for the experiments. Each room was given different wallpaper and smells so the rats could tell them apart.

Adolescent and adult rats were locked in one room and injected 12 times over two weeks with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the drug's active ingredient.

When the doors were opened, allowing the rats to roam from room to room, the researchers noticed something unusual.

"The adults avoided the room where they had been under the influence of THC," Professor McGregor said. But the adolescents had no fear of the room.

Professor McGregor said the results reflected cannabis use patterns in humans. "Studies show that most adult [humans] have given it away by the time they are 30 or 35."

The rats were then left drug-free for two weeks, given blood checks to ensure they no longer had THC in their bodies, and then had their memory tested. "The 'teenagers' that had received cannabis were still memory impaired two weeks later, while the adults were fine," Professor McGregor said. "The adolescents showed poor memory for what had happened an hour ago."

ARE YOU SERIOUS YOU PEOPLE IF THAT IS WHAT YOU CALL YOURSELF
HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT IT IS RIGHT TO CONTAIN A RAT OR ANY ANIMAL OR RODENT AND SHOOT IT UP 12 TIMES A DAY WITH DRUGS THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO CLAIM FU*KS YOUR HEAD AND THEN TRY TO USE THAT AS THEN EVIDENCE OF THE EFFECTS OF DOPE IF YOU WANT TO NO THEN WHY DONT YOU GET MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC THAT DO SMOKE AND PERSUADE THEM TO HAVE DONE TEST DONE AND CONCIDERING THEY ALREADY SMOKE IT WOULD NOT BE COMPLETE TORCHER LIKE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO THEM RATS.I AM SURE THAT YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO DO THE SAME SORT OF RESEARCH MY PERSONAL OPION IS RUN TESTS ON A SMOKER THEN CHANGE THERE RUTINE AND DOSAGE .I CAN GUARANTEE NO SMOKER WOULD SAY NO TO UPING THERE INTAKE OF MARIJUANA

 

Unregistered

YOU MAKE A VERY GOOD PIONT AND SEEM TO NO ALOT ABOUT IT GOT ANY GOOD SH*T