The study found that exposure to these drugs during adolescence produces changes that last into adulthood, increasing "reinforcing effects" of the drug.
Dr. Jose Minarro and his colleagues gave drugs to mice over an eight-day period, and found they developed an increased vulnerability to them, more so than adult mice exposed to drugs.
"Adolescence is a critical stage in development, during which time drug consumption affects plastic cerebral processes in ways that cause changes that persist right through adulthood," Dr. Minarro wrote in his report, which appeared in the journal Addiction Biology.
Labels: addiction, adolescence
Posted By: Aspen/CRC