Neurobehavioral evidence for changes in dopamine system activity during adolescence

“Consistent with DA’s role in modulating excitatory cortical circuits, DA release is thought to aid cognitive performance by increasing neural signal-to-noise ratios (Chambers et al., 2003; Sawaguchi et al., 1990; Thurley et al., 2008).”

“…transporter genes are also likely candidates for analysis, because individual differences in SNPs associated with these genes have been linked to variations in personality traits, externalizing behaviors, and higher-order cognition (DeYoung et al., 2006; Durston et al., 2008; Munafo et al., 2008).”

“…(Ashtari et al., 2007; BarneaGoraly et al., 2005; Ben Bashat et al., 2005; Bonekamp et al., 2007; Eluvathingal et al., 2007; Klingberg et al., 2000; Hasan et al., 2007; Lebel et al., 2008; Li and Noseworthy, 2002; Muetzel et al., 2008; Qiu et al., 2008; Schmithorst and Yuan, 2010; Schneider et…”

“However, cortical DA availability, and synaptic DA availability in the striatum, peak during adolescence (Andersen et al., 1997; Stamford, 1989).”

“Coulter et al. (1996) found that frontal transporter density increased rapidly between PD 21 and adulthood, while Moll et al. (2000) were unable to yield interpretable results.”

“For example, Reuter et al. (2005) demonstrated that an interaction between COMT Val158Met and DRD2 Taq1A polymorphisms accounted for 13% of the variance in performance on the Stroop interference task, more than what was accounted for by either SNP alone.”

“In addition, primates unlike rodents exhibit variations in DA concentrations across regions, with higher concentrations measured in the frontal cortex compared to more posterior regions (Goldman-Rakic and Brown, 1982; Kehr et al., 1976).”

“In a departure from this general pattern, Berns et al. (2009) reported that as risk-taking tendencies increase during adolescence, frontal lobe white matter integrity is better developed, a pattern that was interpreted as suggesting that risk-takers have more mature brains.”

“with age (Leslie et al., 1991; Teicher et al., 1993), and regional innervation patterns (McGeer et al.”

“, 1996), and all have been linked to DAmediated behaviors (Malhotra et al., 2002; Bellgrove et al., 2005),”

“Initially, DA projections from the midbrain to the striatum are undifferentiated, but nigrostriatal and mesolimbic specificity is established sometime between E15 and birth (Hu et al., 2004), as are projections to the PFC and ACC (Berger et al., 1991).”

“2 (Shashi et al., 2006), though other work using samples of both children and young adults found no association between COMT and measures of IQ, verbal fluency, or response inhibition (Glaser et al., 2006).”

“…trajectory in humans is largely similar to that of non-human primates, where DA-containing cells reach the subplate by 13 weeks gestation and are distributed throughout the cerebral wall at 24 weeks (Verney et al., 1993; Zecevic and Verney, 1995), corresponding to the end of neuronal migration.”

“Similar to rodents, D1 and D2 receptors in primates and humans are distributed throughout subcortical and cortical regions (Hall et al., 1994; Lidow et al., 1991; Madras et al., 1988).”

“It is unlikely, for instance, that the COMT genotype modulates reward salience or other incentive-motivated behaviors given that the enzyme is most active in dorsal prefrontal regions (Beyer and Steketee, 2007; Carr and White, 1987).”

“degree of burst activity of DA neurons, the amount of DA turnover, the sensitivity to DA agonists and antagonists, the absence of impulse-and nerve-terminal autoreceptors, and the development of tolerance following chronic neuroleptic administration (Bannon and Roth, 1983; Bjorklund and Dunnett, 2007; Tam and Roth, 19…”

“Initially, DA projections from the midbrain to the striatum are undifferentiated, but nigrostriatal and mesolimbic specificity is established sometime between E15 and birth (Hu et al., 2004), as are projections to the PFC and ACC (Berger et al., 1991).”

“However, others have demonstrated that density increases steadily between birth, adolescence, and adulthood (Murrin and Zeng, 1990; Tarazi and Baldessarini, 2000), a pattern similar to the development of cortical innervation in the rodent.”

“Interestingly, fMRI evidence supports these claims, with Met individuals exhibiting a heightened transient activation during the maintenance phase of a working memory task and Val individuals a heightened sustained response throughout the maintenance period (De Frias et al., 2009).”

“1: Wahlstrom et al., 2007).”

“Unfortunately, studies of D3 development bypass periadolescence and exclude measurements between PD 21 and PD 90 (Demotes-Mainard et al., 1996; Stanwood et al., 1997).”

“…is mediated by a second polymorphism (i.e., the effect of the first is evident in only in the presence of a certain allele in the second) are also emerging in the cognitive literature (Gosso et al., 2008; Reuter et al., 2006; Roffman et al., 2008; Stelzel et al., 2009; Tan et al., 2007).”

“These projections have been labeled collectively as the ‘‘mesolimbic’’ DA pathway (Moore and Bloom, 1978; Oades and Halliday, 1987; Simon et al., 1980).”

“…transporter genes are also likely candidates for analysis, because individual differences in SNPs associated with these genes have been linked to variations in personality traits, externalizing behaviors, and higher-order cognition (DeYoung et al., 2006; Durston et al., 2008; Munafo et al., 2008).”

“…patterns observed in adolescence, we and others have suggested that the dopamine system is of interest given its known role in modulationg reward responding, reinforcement learning, and high-level cognition (Frank and Hutchison, 2009; Schultz et al., 2008; Spear, 2003; Wahlstrom et al., 2010).”

“This is especially true in the SN and VTA, where different lines of evidence have indicated no developmental changes (Moll et al., 2000), steady increases between birth and adulthood (Galineau et al., 2004), and peaks in transporter density at PD 21 (Coulter et al., 1996).”

“For example, TH activity has been shown to decrease with age in human PFC (Weickert et al., 2006) and striatum (McGeer and McGeer, 1976), though others have shown brief increases in the striatum in early childhood (Haycock et al., 2003).”

“first third of gestation in primates (Berger et al., 1993; Levitt and Rakic, 1982).”

“…is mediated by a second polymorphism (i.e., the effect of the first is evident in only in the presence of a certain allele in the second) are also emerging in the cognitive literature (Gosso et al., 2008; Reuter et al., 2006; Roffman et al., 2008; Stelzel et al., 2009; Tan et al., 2007).”

“We reported that the COMT Val158/Met genotype was significantly related to measures of working memory/attention, and motor coordination, all of which depend on prefrontal DA (Glickstein et al., 2005; Luciana and Collins, 1997; Yang et al., 2003).”

“Some of the most prominent within the literature include the COMT108/158Val-Met single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (Grossman et al., 1992), dopamine transporter (DAT1) variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) (Vandenbergh et al., 1992), the Taq1A SNP, which appears to impact the D2 receptor system (Neville et al., 2…”

“2 (Shashi et al., 2006), though other work using samples of both children and young adults found no association between COMT and measures of IQ, verbal fluency, or response inhibition (Glaser et al., 2006).”

“Other studies have indicated that the development of DA cells and receptors is similar in males and females (Lieb et al., 1996); however, rates of change during adolescence were not directly compared.”

“, 1979) and gestational week 5 in humans (Pearson et al., 1980).”

“Similar findings have been revealed with respect to disease risk, as Zappia et al. (2004) have demonstrated that two polymorphisms impacting the deposition of b-amyloid significantly increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease beyond what would be expected by additive effects.”

“For instance, the Taq1 A allele, associated with D2 dopamine receptor mechanisms (Neville et al., 2004), has been associated with novelty seeking as well as with reinforcement learning (Berman et al., 2002; Frank and Hutchison, 2009).”

“It is unlikely, for instance, that the COMT genotype modulates reward salience or other incentive-motivated behaviors given that the enzyme is most active in dorsal prefrontal regions (Beyer and Steketee, 2007; Carr and White, 1987).”

“…is mediated by a second polymorphism (i.e., the effect of the first is evident in only in the presence of a certain allele in the second) are also emerging in the cognitive literature (Gosso et al., 2008; Reuter et al., 2006; Roffman et al., 2008; Stelzel et al., 2009; Tan et al., 2007).”

“…that COMT is unrelated to performance on tests of executive functions such as working memory, setshifting, planning, and response inhibition (Mills et al., 2004; Taerk et al., 2004), whereas others have found that being homozygous for the Met allele impairs sustained attention performance…”

“In rats, D1 and D2 receptors have been stained as early as days E14 and E15 in the striatum and reach the frontal cortex by E18 (Caille et al., 1995; Jung and Bennett, 1996; Schambra et al., 1994).”

“Autoreceptors have not been found on DA cells that terminate in the PFC or amygdala (Kilts et al., 1987).”

“In contrast to these PFC regions, axonal length and varicosities peak at age 7 months in the rostral entorhinal cortex and then decline into adulthood (Erickson et al., 1998).”

“Human data are inconsistent given methodological difficulties in measuring receptor binding in post-mortem samples; however, evidence indicates that D1 and D2 receptors are present in both cortical and subcortical regions by gestational week 20 (Meng et al., 1999; Unis et al., 1998).”

“D1 and D2 receptors reach the marginal zone by E73 and begin to show regional differences across cortical regions by E107 (Lidow, 1995).”

“Findings in other species have indicated the opposite to be true, as TH increases during childhood and adolescence in rat and rabbit midbrain, striatum, and cortex (McGeer et al., 1967; Ungethüm et al., 1996).”

“Unfortunately, studies of D3 development bypass periadolescence and exclude measurements between PD 21 and PD 90 (Demotes-Mainard et al., 1996; Stanwood et al., 1997).”

“…are evident late in infancy, coincident with independent locomotion (Bell and Fox, 1992; Diamond, 1990a,b) and show a steady course of improvement through childhood (Luciana and Nelson, 2002; Kerr and Zelazo, 2004; Levin et al., 1991; Ridderinkhof and van der Molen, 1997; Welsh et al., 1991).”

“…2005; Ben Bashat et al., 2005; Bonekamp et al., 2007; Eluvathingal et al., 2007; Klingberg et al., 2000; Hasan et al., 2007; Lebel et al., 2008; Li and Noseworthy, 2002; Muetzel et al., 2008; Qiu et al., 2008; Schmithorst and Yuan, 2010; Schneider et al., 2004; Snook et al., 2005, 2007; Zhang…”

“Better attentional function, as measured by the digit span forward task, has also been demonstrated in a sample of elderly Asian males who were free of cognitive impairment (Liu et al., 2008).”

“In our view and based on success in using pharmacological probes to index neurochemical reactivity in young adults (Luciana and Collins, 1997; Luciana et al., 2004; Vrshek-Schallhorn et al., 2006), this is a technology that could be applied safely to adolescent samples.”

“Human findings are mixed, with some data indicating age-related decreases in DA between ages 9 and 30 in the striatum and others finding no changes with development (Haycock et al., 2003; Kalaria et al., 1993).”

“COMT, on the other hand, is unique in that its activity has been shown to increase in both human PFC (Tunbridge et al., 2007a,b) and porcine striatum (Brust et al., 2004) during adolescence.”

“COMT was not related to intelligence in a sample of healthy children in China (Zhang et al., 2007).”

“DBH and PNMT can be identified shortly after (Teitelman et al., 1979), as can COMT (Parvez et al., 1979) and MAO (Fiszman et al., 1991).”

“The protracted postadolescent period of synaptic elimination and increase in dopaminergic innervation of the prefrontal cortex (61) may be linked to human-specific cognitive functions and circuitry specializations (58) that are a product of cooperation between genetic endowment and environment, as postulated by the se…”

“Wehypothesize that these structures will represent nodes of the ascending mesocorticolimbic dopamine system (Berridge and Robinson, 1998; Goto and Grace, 2005; Wahlstrom et al., 2010b).”