Trial lecture - time and place
19.06.2025,10.15, Geologibygningen, aud.1
The Adolescent Brain After Prenatal Drug Exposure: Mechanisms and Functional Outcomes
Conferral summary
Legemiddelassistert rehabilitering med metadon eller buprenorfin anbefales til gravide opioidavhengige kvinner, til tross for potensielle negative effekter på barnet. I denne avhandlingen benyttet vi en rottemodell for å undersøke langvarige nevrobiologiske effekter av prenatal eksponering for metadon eller buprenorfin i både første og andre generasjon av avkom. Vi analyserte angstlignende atferd, sosial atferd, samt endringer i hjernens genekspresjon.
Main research findings
Methadone and buprenorphine are medications used to treat opioid use disorder, including during pregnancy. While this treatment is beneficial for the mother by increasing her health outcomes and reducing relapse and overdose risk, prenatal exposure to methadone or buprenorphine may negatively impact fetal development due to interference with the endogenous opioid system. In this thesis, we used a rat model to study behavior and genetics in both sexes across two generations of offspring, following prenatal methadone or buprenorphine exposure.
We found that offspring exposed to buprenorphine showed reduced social play behavior as juveniles and a tendency for increased anxiety-like behavior as adults. Prenatal exposure to methadone resulted in sex-specific effects on anxiety-like behavior, with females showing increased and males showing reduced anxiety. Both drugs caused alterations in brain gene expression, particularly in genes important for synapse function, immune processes and apoptosis. The effects of prenatal buprenorphine exposure on social play behavior persisted into the next generation, suggesting an intergenerational risk.
Our findings show that prenatal exposure to methadone or buprenorphine can lead to long-lasting effects on mental health and social behavior. These findings raise concerns about similar impacts in humans, potentially increasing the risk of abnormal developmental outcomes across generations.