Effetti del trattamento cronico con nandrolone decanoato in ratti maschi adolescenti ed adulti sul comportamento emotivo ed interazione con il sistema endocannabinoide.

In this work we investigated the effects of chronic treatment with nandrolone decanoate (ND), a widely abused anabolic androgenic steroid, on the emotional profile of both adult and adolescent male rats. ND induced a complex depressive-like phenotype when it was administered during adolescence but not in adulthood, suggesting a more vulnerability of the adolescent brain to steroid abuse. In adolescent male rats this phenotype is characterized by alterations in emotional and cognitive behaviour, as well as in biochemical parameters such as pCREB levels and monoaminergic activity. Since the endocannabinoid system (ECS) seems to be involved in the etiopathogenesis of depression and we observed alterations in the endocannabinoid receptor CB1 in rats exposed to ND during adolescence, we investigated the ability of the indirect CB1 receptor agonist URB597 to recover the depressive-like phenotype induced by ND. We observed that a 2-week URB597 treatment fully recovered the behavioural alterations but only partially rescued the biochemical changes and the monoaminergic activity alterations. Finally, since cannabis is a drug widely abused among adolescents we evaluated a possible coabuse of THC, the main psychoactive component of cannabis, and ND in adolescent male rats. The co-administration of THC/ND prevented the occurrence of alterations in emotional behaviour. Overall, these data suggest that adolescent exposure to ND triggers the development of a complex depressive-like phenotype and that manipulation of the ECS could modulate the adverse effects induced by steroids on emotional behaviour.