Amphetamine Diverts the Brain’s Path to Maturity
This research: Sheds light on a key mechanism of adolescent brain development. Shows how amphetamine disrupts this mechanism. Links this disruption to animal behaviors that resemble human susceptibility to addiction. During adolescence, the prefrontal cortex undergoes elaboration and refinement of the neural circuits that underpin adult self-control and mature judgment. Dr. Cecilia Flores’ team, with colleagues from McGill and Concordia Universities in Montreal, conducted experiments with mice to understand this process and how drugs affect it. The researchers found that some dopamine axons
