# The Developmental Effects of Environmental Enrichment on the Minor Cannabinoid Drug Reward and Cannabinoid Receptor Levels

> **NIH NIH R15** · CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $440,924

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Understanding individual differences in the vulnerability to drug abuse is an important component to developing
better prevention and treatment strategies. Evidence indicates that personality traits such as “novelty-seeking”
or “sensation-seeking” can influence drug use. The rodent environmental enrichment paradigm has been
shown to reliably induce a behavioral phenotype that models the increased drug abuse vulnerability seen with
the novelty-seeking personality trait. In this enrichment model, rats are raised in environments with either high
or low levels of novelty throughout early adolescence and through adulthood. Rats exposed to high levels of
novelty (enriched rats) are consistently found to be less sensitive to low doses of various drugs of abuse
compared to rats exposed to low levels of novelty (impoverished rats) when tested in young adulthood. When
using this model, the altered sensitivity to drugs of abuse is traditionally not tested until the animals reach
adulthood. A more systematic investigation on when during adolescence exposure to high- or low-novelty
environments induces these altered behavioral phenotypes is warranted. This may be particularly important as
the peak of when people initiate cannabis use is during adolescence. Given the popularity of cannabinoid
drugs, it is surprising that there is little to no research investigating whether environmental enrichment can alter
sensitivity to marijuana. While delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-THC) is considered the major
psychoactive ingredient of marijuana, the passage of the 2018 “Farm Bill” has led to the rise in the popularity of
minor cannabinoids of the hemp plant including delta-8-Tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-8-THC) and cannabidiol
(CBD). Products containing delta-8-THC have recently skyrocketed in popularity, particularly in states where
delta-9-THC remains fully illegal. A main goal of the proposed research is to combine new research from our
lab looking at the abuse liability of vaped or pulmonary administration of delta-8-THC and CBD and
combinations of these compounds using a conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure and determine when
and if adolescent environmental enrichment exposure can alter the sensitivity to these cannabis drugs. A
second goal is to determine when and if adolescent environmental enrichment exposure may alter brain
cannabinoid receptor densities in key brain structures involved in the rewarding and behavioral effects of
cannabinoid drugs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10729755
- **Project number:** 1R15DA058811-01
- **Recipient organization:** CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Dustin Jeffrey Stairs
- **Activity code:** R15 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $440,924
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-01 → 2027-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10729755

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10729755, The Developmental Effects of Environmental Enrichment on the Minor Cannabinoid Drug Reward and Cannabinoid Receptor Levels (1R15DA058811-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10729755. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*