Cited by 277Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesSchizophrenia research and treatment

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Neurobehavioral evidence for changes in dopamine system activity during adolescence

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Wahlstrom, Dustin, White, Tonya, Luciana, Monica·2010·Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

DOI 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.12.007PMC PMC2845533

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Abstract

Human adolescence has been characterized by increases in risk-taking, emotional lability, and deficient patterns of behavioral regulation. These behaviors have often been attributed to changes in brain structure that occur during this developmental period, notably alterations in gray and white matter that impact synaptic architecture in frontal, limbic, and striatal regions. In this review, we provide a rationale for considering that these behaviors may be due to changes in dopamine system activity, particularly overactivity, during adolescence relative to either childhood or adulthood. This rationale relies on animal data due to limitations in assessing neurochemical activity more directly in juveniles. Accordingly, we also present a strategy that incorporates molecular genetic techniques to infer the status of the underlying tone of the dopamine system across developmental groups. Implications for the understanding of adolescent behavioral development are discussed.

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“These symptoms are associated with abnormalities in dopamine neuronal pathways [6-7] .”
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Khani, F., Pourmotabbed, A., Hosseinmardi, N., Nedaei, S. E., Fathollahi, Y., & Azizi, H. (2022) · Developmental Psychobiology · doi:10.1002/dev.22315 · Cited by 13
Nozizeptives System
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Appetitive Needs and Addiction
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The association between overnight recognition accuracy and slow oscillation-spindle coupling is moderated by BDNF Val66Met
Halonen, R., Kuula, L., Lahti, J. M. T., Räikkönen, K., & Pesonen, A. (2022) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2022.113889 · Cited by 13
“9 Val158Met on the studied variables [58,59].”
Background
Ecological correlations of dietary food intake and mental health disorders
Hoerr, J., Fogel, J., & Voorhees, B. W. V. (2016) · Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health · doi:10.1016/j.jegh.2016.12.001 · Cited by 12
“Adolescents have a more malleable response to rewards than the adult population [47,48], and the impact of intervening in young adults would potentially occur over a full lifetime.”
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“…me pag e: ht tp : / /www.e lsev ier .com/ locate /dcn ocial provocation modulates decision making and feedback rocessing: Examining the trajectory of development in dolescent participants annah L. Pinchama, Claire Wub, Clare Killikellyc, Laura Vuillierd, R.M. Pasco Fearona,e,∗ Developmental…”
White Matter Correlates of Hostility and Aggression in the Visuospatial Function Network in Patients With Schizophrenia
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Adolescent brain maturation is necessary for adult‐typical mesocorticolimbic responses to a rewarding social cue
Bell, M. R., Meerts, S. H., & Sisk, C. L. (2013) · Developmental Neurobiology · doi:10.1002/dneu.22106 · Cited by 11
“Sexual reward is often associated with dopaminergic action within the mesocorticolimbic reward circuit, a hormone-sensitive circuit that is remodeled during puberty and adolescence (Meisel et al., 1996; Becker et al., 2001; Doremus-Fitzwater et al., 2010; Wahlstrom et al., 2010; Aubele and Kritzer, 2012).”
Background
Adolescence: Physical and Cognitive Development
Scott, S. K., & Saginak, K. A. (2016) · doi:10.1002/9781394258925.ch11 · Cited by 11
Adolescent dopamine development
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Role of genetic background in the effects of adolescent nicotine exposure on mesolimbic dopamine transmission
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Gestational Exposure to the Synthetic Cathinone Methylenedioxypyrovalerone Results in Reduced Maternal Care and Behavioral Alterations in Mouse Pups
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“Based on existing data, the drug was present in the pregnant female mouse at a time of the differentiation of dopaminergic (tyrosine hydroxylase expressing) neurons but prior to the appearance of D1 and D2 dopamine receptors (Wahlstrom et al., 2010).”
Method
Heterosis in COMT Val158Met Polymorphism Contributes to Sex-Differences in Children’s Math Anxiety
Júlio-Costa, A., Martins, A. A. S., Wood, G. M. D. O., Almeida, M. P., de Miranda, M., Haase, V. G., & Carvalho, M. R. S. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01013 · Cited by 15
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Wheel-running exercise before and during gestation against acute and sensitized cocaine psychomotor-activation in offspring
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“These results suggest that early-life periods may be particularly sensitive to the (long-term) benefits of exercise, presumably because of, at least in part, structural and functional brain plasticity in regions involved in motivation and reward that continue to mature during adolescence [10,11].”
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Caudate nucleus volume in medicated and unmedicated patients with early- and adult-onset schizophrenia
Andreou, D., Jørgensen, K. N., Nerland, S., Calkova, T., Mørch-Johnsen, L. E., Smelror, R. E., Wortinger, L. A., Lundberg, M., Bohman, H., Myhre, A. M., et al. (2024) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-024-73322-x · Cited by 7
Qualitative Approaches to the Study of Substance and Behavioral Addictions
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Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Positive Affect: Insights from Adolescent Twins
Gooding, D. C., Moore, M. N., Pflum, M. J., Schmidt, N. L., & Goldsmith, H. H. (2021) · Affective Science · doi:10.1007/s42761-021-00041-1 · Cited by 9
“, 2008), as well as for the development of approach behaviors and responsiveness to reward (Davey et al., 2008; Crone & Dahl, 2012; Urosevic et al., 2012; Wahlstrom et al., 2010; Walker et al., 2017).”
Background
Spatial discrimination reversal and incremental repeated acquisition in adolescent and adult BALB/c mice
Shen, A. N., Pope, D. A., Hutsell, B. A., & Newland, M. C. (2015) · Behavioural Processes · doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2015.06.005 · Cited by 7
“…study, in which trial initiations were separated from the choice response, adolescents and adults performed equally as well on both the original discrimination and reversal, but adolescents initiated fewer trials, which is indicative of greater distractibility (Spear, 2000; Wahlstrom et al., 2010).”
BackgroundMethodResult
Adolescence and Early Adulthood
Kim‐Spoon, J., & Farley, J. P. (2014) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-7424-2_4 · Cited by 8
Post-pubertal difference in nigral dopaminergic cells firing in the schizophrenia model prepared by perinatal challenges of a cytokine, EGF.
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Is Adolescence a Sensitive Period for the Development of Incentive-Reward Motivation?
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Self-citation
Developmental changes in dopamine-related neurophysiology and associations with adolescent substance use and incentive-boosted cognitive control
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“Development of DAergic neurocircuitry is thought to underlie critical cognitive, motivational, and behavioral processes in adolescence (Wahlstrom et al., 2010a, 2010b; Luciana et al., 2012; Cools, 2008), but has been difficult to examine in pediatric samples (Parr et al., 2021).”
Normal Brain Development and Child/Adolescent Policy
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Gene-Environment Interplay in Parenting Young Children
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Effects of L-Dopa, SKF-38393, and quinpirole on exploratory, anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors in pubertal female and male mice
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Sex Differences in Affective Disorders: A Developmental Neuroscience Framework on the Role of Puberty
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Developmental dyslexia susceptibility genes DNAAF4, DCDC2, and NRSN1 are associated with brain function in fluently reading adolescents and young adults
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Age-dependent effects of H2S on post-traumatic stress disorder in adolescent and adult mice
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Effects of adolescent caffeine consumption on cocaine self-administration and reinstatement of cocaine seeking
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Substance and Behavioral Addictions Assessment Instruments
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Validation of the aberrant salience inventory in a general and clinical Spanish population
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The Inverted U: Exploring the Interconnectedness of Movement and Cognitive Function Across the Lifespan
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“…early adulthood can be attributed to a combination of neurobiological factors, including reductions in neural plasticity, decreased dopamine receptor density, and age-related changes in brain connectivity that affect motor control and coordination (Wahlstrom et al. 2010; Li, Wang, et al. 2023).”
A unique multi-synaptic mechanism involving acetylcholine and GABA regulates dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens through early adolescence in male rats
Iacino, M. C., Stowe, T. A., Pitts, E. G., Sexton, L. L., Macauley, S. L., & Ferris, M. J. (2024) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.62999 · Cited by 5
“The dopamine system undergoes reorganization during adolescence (see Wahlstrom et al., 2010a,b; Padmanabhan and Luna, 2014) and these changes are implicated in behavioral changes as well as increased vulnerability to the development of various psychiatric disorders (Spear, 2000, 2013; Nelson et…”
Influential
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“The rise in sensation seeking during adolescence has been linked to a rise in dopamine expression (Wahlstrom et al., 2010), which is positively linked to improvements in working memory and other indicators of cognitive control and learning (Cools and Robbins, 2004; Cools, 2008; Murty et al., 2016).”
Background
Gaming Disorder and Its Treatment
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Schizophrenic: forever young?
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“The hyperactive state of the dopamine system in a patient with schizophrenia resembles the dopamine hyperactivity in the brain of an adolescent [26], and it might show how a regulatory feature that might be beneficial during a certain life stage (at least on a population based scale) could result in a psychiatric dise…”
Background

Authors: Wahlstrom, D., White, T., & Luciana, M.
Affiliations: University of Minnesota (US)
Corresponding author: Luciana, Monica
ORCID: Wahlstrom, Dustin
White, Tonya
Luciana, Monica
Venue: Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Published: 2010-04
Volume: 34
Issue: 5
Pages: 631-648
ISSN: 0149-7634 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.12.007
PMC: PMC2845533
OpenAlex: W2102081573
Cited by: 277
References: 263
Citations by year: 2026: 7 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 13
FWCI: 0.97
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: green
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Licence: www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations: Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders: National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH017069)
National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA017843)
Topics: Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
Keywords: dopaminergic system, adolescence, neurobehavioral development, risk-taking, emotional lability, behavioral regulation, synaptic structure, striatum, frontal cortex, limbic system, white matter, gray matter, animal models, molecular genetics
MeSH terms: Adolescent, Animals, Behavior, Catechol O-Methyltransferase, Dopamine, Humans, Human Development, Models, Neurological

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Neurobehavioral evidence for changes in dopamine system activity during adolescence

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