The consumption of cannabis in adolescence, combined with infections during pregnancy, produces brain changes compatible with an increase in the risk of developing schizophrenia, collects the research of the UNED, led by the professor of Psychobiology and current dean of the Faculty of Psychology, Alejandro Higuera Matas. In it, your team deepens how certain environmental and genetic factors interact during development to increase vulnerability to psychotic disorders.
“Cannabis can open a door to psychotic disorders, but only in those individuals with a special risk, such as those who have been exposed to some infection during their prenatal development,” explains Higuera.
The study of the UNED is based on animal models, which was administered THC – the main psychoactive component of cannabis – in adolescence, combining it with a simulated prenatal infection.
“Our question was if there would be specific brain changes in animals exposed to cannabinoid and the infection that were not given in animals exposed only to infection or THC during adolescence,” summarizes the researcher.
Finally, they observed that only the animals that had been exposed to both factors showed the brain changes more related to schizophrenia, even before the behavioral symptoms appeared.
Likewise, alterations in the expression of genes linked to synaptic plasticity, the cerebral immune system and the metabolism of key neurotransmitters were observed.
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Cannabis consumption and their relationship with schizophrenia
The Higuera team also analyzed the blood of these animals to propose some diagnostic markers useful in humans.
In this sense, although cannabis does not trigger schizophrenia, it does act as a catalyst in previously altered brains.
“This opens a very interesting way for prevention, allowing us to identify the most vulnerable individuals,” says Higuera.
Therefore, the investigation funded by the State Research Agency in 2020 puts on the table a crucial aspect: the importance of accumulated environmental factors.
In the case of schizophrenia, it is not a single trigger, but a sum of impacts in key development moments.
For the expert, these data “should be enough to combat the banalization of cannabis consumption, especially in adolescents.”
With agency information
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