Psychopharmacology
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Multicenter Study
Profile of executive deficits in cocaine and heroin polysubstance users: common and differential effects on separate executive components.
Structure of executive function was examined and we contrasted performance of substance dependent individuals (polysubstance users) and control participants on neuropsychological measures assessing the different executive components obtained. Additionally, we contrasted performance of polysubstance users with preference for cocaine vs heroin and controls to explore possible differential effects of the main substance abused on executive impairment. ⋯ Executive functions can be fractionated into four relatively independent components. Chronic drug use is associated with widespread impairment of these four executive components, with cocaine use inducing more severe deficits on inhibition and shifting. These findings show both common and differential effects of two widely used drugs on different executive components.
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Social behaviors are disrupted in several psychiatric disorders. The amygdala is a key brain region involved in social behaviors, and amygdala pathology has been implicated in disease states ranging from social anxiety disorder to autism. ⋯ These models with different gradations of disrupted BLA inhibition could help to study social dysfunction in disorders ranging from social anxiety to autism spectrum disorders.
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The nonselective adenosine receptor antagonist caffeine is used clinically to treat apnea in preterm infants. The brain developmental stage of preterm infants is usually at a period of rapid brain growth, referred as brain growth spurt, which occurs during early postnatal life in rats and is highly sensitive to central nervous system (CNS) acting drugs. ⋯ These results indicate that caffeine exposure during brain growth spurt alters the adenosine receptor-regulated behaviors and the responsiveness to adenosine agonists, suggesting the risk of adenosine receptor-related behavioral dysfunction may exist in preterm newborns treated for apnea with caffeine.