Topic: adolescent nicotine exposure

Nicotine use during adolescence (ADO) constitutes a risk factor to later develop mood disorders. Yet, the mechanisms underlying the enduring effects of adolescent nicotine exposure remain poorly elucidated. During ADO, the cognitive and goal-directed behaviors are refined in parallel to the development of dopamine (DA) circuitry, and both are uniquely sensitive to disruption by environmental influence during this time. Prolonged nicotine exposure in adult mice favors the appearance of depressive-like symptoms by altering the activity of ventral tegmental area (VTA) DA neurons and nicotinic pat