Cited by 52Cannabis and Cannabinoid ResearchNeuroendocrine regulation and behaviorNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

Chronic exposure to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol downregulates oxytocin and oxytocin-associated neurophysin in specific brain areas

Butovsky, Elena, Juknat, Ana, Elbaz, Judith, Shabat-Simon, Maytal, Eilam, Raya, Zangen, Abraham, Altstein, Miriam, Vogel, Zvi·2006·Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience

Abstract

Cannabinoids are widely abused drugs. Our goal was to identify genes modulated by Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta9-THC) treatment. We found that chronic administration of Delta9-THC (1.5 mg/kg/day, i.p.; 7 days) to rats, downregulates the expression of oxytocin-neurophysin (OT-NP) mRNA and of OT and oxytocin-associated NP (NPOT) immunoreactivity in nucleus accumbens (NAc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA), brain areas involved in reward and addiction. Real-time PCR revealed a 60% and 53% reduction of OT-NP mRNA in NAc and VTA, respectively, under chronic treatment, while no changes were observed in NAc after 24 h. Immunohistochemistry showed a large decrease in number of OT and NPOT-stained fibers in NAc (by 59% and 52%, respectively) and VTA (by 50% and 56%, respectively). No changes in cell staining were observed in the paraventricular nucleus and supraoptic nucleus. As OT is known to inhibit development of drug tolerance and attenuate withdrawal symptoms, we suggest that OT downregulation could play a role during the establishment of the chronic effects of Delta9-THC.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.mcn.2006.01.008

Cites

81 of 81 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 82 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Butovsky, E., Juknat, A., Elbaz, J., Shabat-Simon, M., Eilam, R., Zangen, A., Altstein, M., & Vogel, Z.
Affiliations
  • Weizmann Institute of Science (IL)
  • Agricultural Research Organization (IL)
Corresponding author
Vogel, Zvi
Venue
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2006-04
Volume
31
Issue
4
Pages
795-804
ISSN
1044-7431 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1989197363
Cited by
52
References
82
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 5 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 4
FWCI
1.67
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
Keywords
delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, oxytocin, neurophysin, nucleus accumbens, ventral tegmental area, gene downregulation, reward, drug addiction, paraventricular nucleus, supraoptic nucleus
MeSH terms
Animals, Brain, Hallucinogens, Male, Neurophysins, Oxytocin, RNA, Messenger, Dronabinol, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Rats

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review