Consequences of Marijuana Use on the Developing Brain

The summary for the Consequences of Marijuana Use on the Developing Brain grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the National Institutes of Health, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Consequences of Marijuana Use on the Developing Brain: The purpose of this RFA is to support investigations of the effects of exposure to marijuana, the most commonly used illicit drug among teenagers in the United States, on the developing brain. There is now overwhelming evidence that the development of the nervous system continues well into adolescence and that different developmental epochs are defined by different (although overlapping) processes, such as neurogenesis, migration and pattern formation, differentiation, and establishment of connections and their refinement. A substantial literature exists on the consequences of acute and chronic marijuana exposure in adults, including measures of cognitive and behavioral effects, as well as some measures of alterations in brain function, primarily in the domains of learning and memory. There have been relatively few studies, however, of the effects of exposure to marijuana during development, when those areas that are known to be affected in adults are being sculpted by intrinsic and environmental influences (e.g., exposure to other drugs, stress, interactions with peers, parenting, neighborhood factors, and other social variables). Investigations in animal systems have provided considerable evidence concerning the mechanisms and sites of action of the psychoactive ingredients in marijuana, and methodologies are now available to describe in detail the development of these neural systems and, thus, the effects of exposure to marijuana on development. It is the intent of this RFA to encourage research on effects of marijuana exposure on the developing brain, at points along a continuum of development from the prenatal period through the transition to adulthood. The focus is on influences on brain biochemical, physiological, morphological, and functional parameters, and/or on cognitive, behavioral, and social outcomes resulting from such influences. Human and nonhuman studies are sought. Analyses of gender, as appropriate, are encouraged.