Investigation of Emotional Vulnerability and Underlying Neural Circuits in Adolescence

National Institute On Drug Abuse

Investigators

Abstract

While magnetic resonance imaging studies in humans have indicated that gross volumetric changes occur in the brain into early adulthood, adolescent changes on the neuronal level have not been clearly defined. Acute slice electrophysiology and anatomical tracing will be used to quantify intrinsic physiological and structural properties of neurons, and to characterise input and output properties within the limbic system. Using a mouse model, we find that the physiological properties of cells in the brains limbic regions change during adolescence. Importantly, so does communication between them. Mice will also undergo behavioural tasks in which their environments will change in terms of emotional valence, to address whether performance differs in adolescence and to identify the underlying neural mechanisms. Behavioural tasks, chemogenetics, and bulk calcium imaging will be utilised to compare processing of emotionally salient information and probe the physiological function of limbic networks.