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Published on: November 29, 2017
Investigating Cannabidiol's Effectiveness to Mitigate the Adverse Consequences of Exposure to Neonatal Procedural
Brian Timmerman1, Jennifer A Honeycutt2, Jordan Skully1
1Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
Insights
Neonatal pain can negatively impact neurodevelopment. While cannabidiol (CBD) shows promise for pain relief, this study found it did not prevent long-term anxiety in infant rats exposed to pain.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Neuroscience
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Neonatal painful procedures can cause neurodevelopmental issues.
- Current pain management strategies are insufficient for preventing distress and long-term changes.
- Cannabidiol (CBD) shows potential for neonatal pain management due to its analgesic and stress-reducing properties with minimal side effects in adults.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the efficacy of CBD in mitigating neonatal vocalization responses to pain.
- To assess the short- and long-term behavioral outcomes following neonatal pain exposure with CBD treatment.
- To evaluate CBD's potential to prevent pain-induced neurodevelopmental changes.
Main Methods:
- Neonatal rats were exposed to either painful procedures or touch.
- Ultrasound vocalization (USV) emission was recorded.
- Behavioral tests were conducted in adulthood to assess anxiety-like behavior and corticosterone levels.
Main Results:
- Neonatal pain exposure decreased USV emission and increased adult anxiety-like behavior in males.
- CBD treatment reduced USV length and male USV counts but did not prevent increased adult anxiety.
- CBD increased baseline corticosterone in adult males and decreased adult female body weight.
Conclusions:
- CBD treatment did not rescue neonatal pain-induced anxiety-like behavior in adulthood.
- CBD administration showed some effects on vocalizations but did not alleviate long-term behavioral changes.
- Further research is required to determine the safety and efficacy of CBD for neonatal pain management.
Abstract:
Repeated painful procedures are associated with a multitude of effects on neurodevelopment in preterm infants, and current methods of neonatal pain management are unable to prevent the distress and long-term changes induced by these procedures. Cannabidiol (CBD) may be particularly effective for neonatal pain management because it reduces pain unpleasantness ratings, mitigates biological stress responses, and has minimal side effects in adults. However, there is limited research on the effects of neonatal CBD exposure. The present study investigates the efficacy of CBD treatment in mitigating neonatal vocalization responses, as well as short- and long-term behavioral outcomes following neonatal pain exposure. We show that neonatal pain exposure decreases USV emission and increases adult anxiety-like behavior in male rats compared to neonatal touch exposure. Neonatal CBD treatment also decreases pups' USV lengths and male pups' USV counts compared to vehicle treatment but is unable to rescue the neonatal pain-related increased anxiety-like behavior in adulthood. Additionally, neonatal CBD increases baseline corticosterone levels in adult male subjects and decreases adult female body weight compared to vehicle. More research is needed to determine whether CBD may be a safe and effective neonatal pain management medication.
