Early social isolation and brain changes tied to later addiction risk
Official title: Impact of juvenile social isolation on maturation of frontal circuit and SUD-relevant behavior
Funded at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai · NIH-11169979 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how being socially isolated early in life can change brain wiring in ways that may raise the chance of substance use problems later on.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project start | August 15, 2024 |
| Project end | July 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $391,925 |
| NIH project number | 5R34DA061263-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11169979 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Although the project uses animal models and does not enroll people, its findings are most relevant to individuals who experienced social isolation in childhood or adolescence and who are at risk for substance use problems.
✕Less likely to help
People whose addiction risk stems from causes unrelated to early social experience, or those already in late-stage substance use disorder treatment, may not directly benefit from these preclinical findings.
What this research studies
The team uses animal models that mimic juvenile social isolation to study how adolescent and adult behavior and prefrontal brain circuits develop after early social deprivation. They will record and manipulate specific prefrontal neurons, measure social and cognitive behaviors linked to addiction, and apply machine-learning tools to analyze those behaviors. The work focuses on preparing and validating the behavioral tests and circuit-level methods needed for larger future experiments. These preparatory studies aim to make sure the approaches reliably capture how early experiences reshape brain circuits relevant to substance use risk.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could reveal brain-circuit changes caused by early social deprivation that point to prevention strategies or new circuit-targeted treatments for substance use disorders.
How similar studies have gone: Previous animal studies have shown juvenile social isolation alters adult social and cognitive behaviors, but applying circuit-level manipulations with machine-learning behavior analysis to link those changes to addiction risk is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
-
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Morishita, Hirofumi — Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Study coordinator: Morishita, Hirofumi
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.