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Development disturbed: sex-specific transcriptional alterations in adolescent mice after perinatal fentanyl exposure

Neuropsychopharmacology volume 48, pages 1705–1706 (2023)Cite this article

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The opioid crisis has escalated over the last decade and during this decade potent synthetic opioids such as fentanyl became prevalent in the illicit drug market. Opioid use often continues during pregnancy. However, the long-term effects of fentanyl on offspring are unknown.

In this issue of Neuropsychopharmacology, Olusakin et al. [1] address this question by examining the effect of perinatal fentanyl exposure on the transcriptional landscape within three reward and two sensory brain regions of male and female juvenile mice. They used several complementary approaches and analyzes to show large scale sex-specific changes in gene expression within both reward and sensory-related brain regions of juvenile mice after perinatal fentanyl exposure. Furthermore, differential analysis suggests that multiple processes, including mitochondrial respiration, are disturbed in multiple brain regions.

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References

  1. Olusakin J, Kumar G, Basu M, Calarco CA, Fox ME, Alipio JB, et al. Transcriptomic profiling of reward and sensory brain areas in perinatal fentanyl exposed juvenile mice. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2023. Online ahead of print.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Dr. Rajtarun Madangopal for comments on the main text.

Funding

This study was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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  1. Behavioral Neuroscience Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA

    Katherine E. Savell

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  1. Katherine E. Savell
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Correspondence to Katherine E. Savell.

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Savell, K.E. Development disturbed: sex-specific transcriptional alterations in adolescent mice after perinatal fentanyl exposure. Neuropsychopharmacol. 48, 1705–1706 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01688-z

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