Effects of repeated long-term psychosocial stress and acute cannabinoid exposure on mouse corticostriatal circuitries: Implications for neuropsychiatric disorders

Aims and methods: The investigation presented here is addressed to assess the impact of repeated stress following acute cannabinoid exposure on behavior and corticostriatal brain physiology by assessing mice behavior, the concentration of endocannabinoid and endocannabinoid-like molecules and changes in the transcriptome.

Introduction: Vulnerability to psychiatric manifestations is achieved by the influence of genetic and environment including stress and cannabis consumption. Here, we used a psychosocial stress model based on resident-intruder confrontations to study the brain corticostriatal-function, since deregulation of corticostriatal circuitries has been reported in many psychiatric disorders. CB1 receptors are widely expressed in the central nervous system and particularly, in both cortex and striatum brain structures.