Gestational CBD Shapes Insular Cortex in Adulthood

• Published in: Cells (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 17; p. 1486
• Main Authors: Iezzi, Daniela, Cáceres-Rodríguez, Alba, Pereira-Silva, Jessica, Chavis, Pascale, Manzoni, Olivier Jacques José
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 04-09-2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Animals; Behavior; Breastfeeding & lactation; Cannabidiol; Cortex (insular); Decision making; Emotional behavior; Emotions; Excitability; Female; Females; Fetuses; gestational exposure; Humidity; insular cortex; Insular Cortex - drug effects; Intrauterine exposure; Laboratory animals; Life Sciences; Long-term effects; Male; Males; Mental disorders; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; neurodevelopment; Neurodevelopmental disorders; Neurons and Cognition; Offspring; Pain perception; Placenta; Pregnancy; prenatal development; Prenatal experience; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Pyramidal cells; Pyramidal Cells - drug effects; Pyramidal Cells - physiology; pyramidal neurons; Self awareness; Signal processing; Sleep disorders; Social behavior; Synaptic strength; Tetrahydrocannabinol; THC; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; cannabidiol; pyramidal neurons; insular cortex; neurodevelopment; prenatal development; gestational exposure
• ISSN: 2073-4409; 2073-4409
• DOI: 10.3390/cells13171486

Many expectant mothers use CBD to alleviate symptoms like nausea, insomnia, anxiety, and pain, despite limited research on its long-term effects. However, CBD passes through the placenta, affecting fetal development and impacting offspring behavior. We investigated how prenatal CBD exposure affects the insular cortex (IC), a brain region involved in emotional processing and linked to psychiatric disorders. The IC is divided into two territories: the anterior IC (aIC), processing socioemotional signals, and the posterior IC (pIC), specializing in interoception and pain perception. Pyramidal neurons in the aIC and pIC exhibit sex-specific electrophysiological properties, including variations in excitability and the excitatory/inhibitory balance. We investigated IC's cellular properties and synaptic strength in the offspring of both sexes from mice exposed to low-dose CBD during gestation (E5-E18; 3 mg/kg, s.c.). Prenatal CBD exposure induced sex-specific and territory-specific changes in the active and passive membrane properties, as well as intrinsic excitability and the excitatory/inhibitory balance, in the IC of adult offspring. The data indicate that in utero CBD exposure disrupts IC neuronal development, leading to a loss of functional distinction between IC territories. These findings may have significant implications for understanding the effects of CBD on emotional behaviors in offspring.