58. The Impact of Stress During Late Adolescence on Drug Susceptibility and Anxiety in Adulthood

Abstract

Methamphetamine is coined as one of the most addictive abused substances and accounts for a portion of the United States’ crime rate, poverty, and emergency room visits. This raises a concern for adolescent populations given the increase in psychostimulant prescriptions combined with social pressure placed upon them. The adolescent developmental period is important because of the continued plasticity of the brain during critical windows of development that are sensitive to environmental perturbations such as stress. Disruptions in the brain could potentially lead to adverse reactions to future drug exposures which could possibly represent a susceptibility factor for mental health and addictions in adulthood. Measuring anxiety in adulthood may gauge resulting drug susceptibility as anxiety is a common behavior associated with drug abuse, especially that of stimulants. Male and female C57Bl6/J underwent no treatment or an daily treatment of forced swim stress during late adolescence (P42-51) and received either a subacute dose of methamphetamine (0.5mg/kg) or an equal volume of sterile saline in adulthood (P90) before testing for anxiety using the well-established elevated plus maze (EPM) behavioral paradigm. A subacute dose of meth is a critical component as it is below the threshold that stimulates measurable behavioral effects and allows for observation of sensitized behavior. A number of EPM behaviors were tracked to assess differences in adult drug-induced anxiety after adolescent stress. We expect to determine if modifications in the addiction pathway from stress during adolescence can account for increased drug susceptibility and anxiety in adulthood.