Increased CRF-like and NPY-like immunoreactivity in adult rats exposed to nicotine during adolescence: Relation to anxiety-like and depressive-like behavior

This study demonstrates that adolescent nicotine exposure produces lasting increases in anxiety-like behavior and may reduce depressive-like behavior. These behavioral changes also occurred in concert with alterations in CRF and NPY systems. Thus, lasting neurobehavioral changes associated with adolescent nicotine exposure may be related to allostatic changes in stress peptide systems.