---
title: "Adolescent cannabis use linked to altered longitudinal fMRI network development"
id: "biorxiv-9-longitudinal-fmri-reveals-altered-developmental-trajectories-of-functional"
canonical_url: "https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/biorxiv-9-longitudinal-fmri-reveals-altered-developmental-trajectories-of-functional"
content_type: "clinical_feed_article"
specialty: "Neurology"
source_name: "bioRxiv (Biomedical Preprints)"
source_url: "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.20.760368v1?rss=1"
published_at: "2026-10-24T12:00:00.000Z"
evidence_level: "Verified Feed"
license: "CC-BY-NC-4.0 / Informational Use"
---
# Adolescent cannabis use linked to altered longitudinal fMRI network development
## Provenance & Clinical Metadata
- **Canonical URL:** https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/biorxiv-9-longitudinal-fmri-reveals-altered-developmental-trajectories-of-functional
- **Specialty:** [Neurology](https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/neurology.md)
- **Primary Source:** bioRxiv (Biomedical Preprints)
- **Source URL:** [Original Journal Publication](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.20.760368v1?rss=1)
- **Published At:** 2026-10-24T12:00:00.000Z
- **Evidence Rating:** Verified Feed
## Executive GIST (TL;DR)
- The cohort comprised 66 participants scanned twice one year apart; 31 were aged 16–17 years and 35 were aged 26–29 years. 29 participants reported regular **cannabis** use and 37 were cannabis-naive controls. - Investigators applied resting-state **fMRI** seed-to-voxel analyses to examine one-year changes in **functional connectivity** across age and user-group. - The study team observed year-change and age-by-user-group interactions in **salience** and **default mode network** connectivity; effects included divergent changes in anticorrelations with medial prefrontal, thalamic, cerebellar and juxtapositional regions. - Directionality of effects varied by network and region: some connections showed decreased positive connectivity, others showed reduced anticorrelation. - Main effects of user group appeared for **executive control** network coupling and associative **striatal** connectivity; cannabis users showed decreased positive connectivity in one case and reduced anticorrelation in the other. - Observed changes clustered in regions tied to attentional and transmodal processing, suggesting altered maturational refinement of higher-order neural systems in association with cannabis exposure. - The authors noted developmental stage may modulate neurobiological sensitivity to cannabis and recommended considering age when characterising cannabis-related brain differences. - The article is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed; the source did not report detailed fMRI acquisition parameters, seed definitions, or statistical thresholds in the abstract and these methodological specifics were not provided in the source material supplied here.
## Clinical Analysis & Structured Key Points
Longitudinal fMRI reveals altered developmental trajectories of functional network organisation associated with adolescent cannabis use | bioRxiv Skip to main content New Results Longitudinal fMRI reveals altered developmental trajectories of functional network organisation associated with adolescent cannabis use Elizabeth J Davies , Natalie Ertl , Tom P Freeman , Anya Borissova , Rachel Lees Thorne , Shelan Ofori , Kat Petrilli , Clare Mokrysz , H. Valerie Curran , Will Lawn , Matthew B Wall doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.10.20.760368 Elizabeth J Davies 1 Perceptive Inc.; Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site Natalie Ertl 1 Perceptive Inc.; Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site Tom P Freeman 2 University of Bath; Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site Anya Borissova 3 Kings College London, London UK; Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site Rachel Lees Thorne 4 University of Bath, Bath UK; Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site Shelan Ofori 5 NYU Grossman School of Medicine, NY USA; Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site Kat Petrilli 3 Kings College London, London UK; Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site Clare Mokrysz 6 University College London, London UK Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site H. Valerie Curran 6 University College London, London UK Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site Will Lawn 3 Kings College London, London UK; Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site Matthew B Wall 1 Perceptive Inc.; Find this author on Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for this author on this site For correspondence: matt.wall{at}perceptive.com Abstract Info/History Metrics Supplementary material Preview PDF Abstract Adolescence is a critical period of brain development during which the endocannabinoid system continues to mature. These developmental changes may contribute to age-related differences in the association between cannabis use and large-scale functional network organisation, yet this association remains incompletely characterised. We hypothesised that regular cannabis use would be associated with differential one-year changes in resting-state functional connectivity between adolescents and adults. Resting-state fMRI data at two time points, one year apart, were analysed from 66 participants (31 aged 16-17 years; 35 aged 26-29 years) including 29 with regular cannabis use and 37 age-matched cannabis-naive controls. Seed-to-voxel analyses examined longitudinal changes in functional connectivity across age and cannabis-use groups. Year change, age by user-group interactions were identified in salience and default mode network connectivity, including divergent changes in anticorrelations with medial prefrontal, thalamic, cerebellar and juxtapositional regions. Directionality of effects differed by network and region. Additional main effects of user group were observed for executive control and associative striatal connectivity, with the cannabis-use group showing decreased positive connectivity and reduced anticorrelation, respectively. Changes in functional connectivity were developmentally dissociable and predominantly observed in regions contributing to attentional and transmodal processing. These findings suggest that cannabis may be associated with alterations in the maturational refinement of higher-order neural systems, potentially reflecting age-related differences in neurobiological sensitivity to cannabis exposure. Considering developmental stage may therefore be important for characterising cannabis-related neurobiological differences and may have implications for understanding age-dependent vulnerability to cannabis-related psychiatric outcomes. Competing Interest Statement Authors EJD, NE, and MBW are employed by Imanova Ltd (currently trading as Perceptive Discovery), which provides contract research services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. All other authors have no competing interests. Funder Information Declared MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL , MR/P012728/1 UK Research and Innovation, https://ror.org/001aqnf71 , MR/Y017560/1 Copyright The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license . Back to top Previous Next Posted October 24, 2026. Download PDF Supplementary Material Email Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv. NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article. Your Email * Your Name * Send To * Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas. 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Valerie Curran , Will Lawn , Matthew B Wall bioRxiv 2026.10.20.760368; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.10.20.760368 Share This Article: Copy Citation Tools Longitudinal fMRI reveals altered developmental trajectories of functional network organisation associated with adolescent cannabis use Elizabeth J Davies , Natalie Ertl , Tom P Freeman , Anya Borissova , Rachel Lees Thorne , Shelan Ofori , Kat Petrilli , Clare Mokrysz , H. 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