“Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) includes neuropsychiatric disturbances related to gestational and lactational ethanol exposure. Available treatments are minimal and do not modulate ethanol-induced damage. Developing animal models simulating FASD is essential for understanding the underlying brain alterations and searching for efficient therapeutic approaches. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of early and chronic cannabidiol (CBD) administration on offspring exposed to an animal model of FASD. Ethanol gavage (3g/kg/12h, p.o.) was administered to C57BL/6J female mice, with a previous history of alcohol consumption, between gestational day 7 and postnatal day 21. On the weaning day, pups were separated by sex, and CBD administration began (30mg/kg/day, i.p.). After 4-6 weeks of treatment, behavioral and neurobiological changes were analyzed. Mice exposed to the animal model of FASD showed higher anxiogenic and depressive-like behaviors and cognitive impairment that were evaluated through several experimental tests. These behaviors were accompanied by alterations in the gene, cellular and metabolomic targets. CBD administration normalized FASD model-induced emotional and cognitive disturbances, gene expression, and cellular changes with sex-dependent differences. CBD modulates the metabolomic changes detected in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Interestingly, no changes were found in mitochondria or the oxidative status of the cells. These results suggest that the early and repeated administration of CBD modulated the long-lasting behavioral, gene and protein alterations induced by the FASD model, encouraging the possibility of performing clinical trials to evaluate the effects of CBD in children affected with FASD.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36642113/
“The results of the present study reveal that the early and chronic administration of CBD repairs the emotional and cognitive alterations observed in male and female mice exposed to the animal model of FASD. Likewise, CBD modulates sex-dependently the gene expression changes and metabolomic targets affected by the model exposure. Interestingly, the data suggest the absence of mitochondrial and oxidative targets in CBD-induced modulation, pointing out that lipid and protein metabolism could be another pathway involved in the cellular reparation observed after CBD chronic administration. The modulation of Pparβ/δ gene expression could be one of the multiple targets involved in CBD’s induced cellular reparation and behavioral modulation. However, further studies are required to explore the real implication of this target in CBD’s mechanism of action in this model of FASD. Taken together, these results strongly stimulate the possibility of performing clinical trials to evaluate the effects of CBD in children affected with FASD.”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043661823000117?via%3Dihub