Efectos en el metabolismo cerebral de glucosa de la retirada de morfina y cocaína en ratas adultas pretratadas con un cannabinoide sintético durante la adolescencia

Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug worldwide. Its consumption during adolescence may be deleterious on neural development and cognitive functioning and has been also proposed to promote the use of other drugs at adulthood. In this context the aim of this study is to evaluate the long-term effects of opiate and cocaine withdrawal in brain glucose metabolism at adulthood in male and female rats pretreated with a cannabinoid agonist during adolescence. Therefore a longitudinal PET study was performed, in order to evaluate brain metabolic effects after a 16 weeks withdrawal. Both drugs produced metabolic differences in areas involving limbic and reward systems, with a larger effect in females. Animals exposed to a cannabinoid agonist show an opposite pattern in their metabolic differences comparing with animals treated with morphine or cocaine only, and they do not show any reversibility after a 16 weeks withdrawal.