“A series of trials on marijuana to treat epilepsy is conducted by the Birmingham Epilepsy Center revealed that Cannabidiol (CBD), purified from Cannabis plant or commonly known marijuana, has high beneficial effects in the treatment of epileptic patients. The study revealed that oral administration of CBD oil caused a significant reduction in the frequency of epileptic seizures in adult and pediatric patients.”
“A purified oral formulation of cannabidiol (CBD; Epidiolex, GW Pharmaceuticals) significantly reduces seizures in treatment-resistant epilepsy, according to new research that included double-blind randomized controlled trials of patients with Dravet syndrome (DS) and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), two of the most difficult-to-manage seizure conditions.
The new research, released here at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 2016 Annual Meeting, also highlights the relative safety of this new drug, a prescription medicine derived from the cannabis plant.”
“Human Gingival Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hGMSCs) are multipotential cells that can expand and differentiate in culture under specific and standardized conditions.
In the present study, we have investigated whether in vitro pre-treatment of hGMSCs with Cannabidiol(CBD) can influence their expression profile, improving the therapeutic potential of this cell culture.
In conclusion, the present study will provide a new simple and reproducible method for preconditioning hGMSCs with CBD, before transplantation, as an interesting strategy for improving the hGMSCs molecular phenotype, reducing the risk of immune or inflammatory reactions in the host, and in parallel, for increasing their survival and thus, their long-term therapeutic efficacy.”
“Anxiety and trauma-related disorders are psychiatric diseases with a lifetime prevalence of up to 25%. Phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are characterized by abnormal and persistent memories of fear-related contexts and cues. The effects of psychological treatments such as exposure therapy are often only temporary and medications can be ineffective and have adverse side effects.
Growing evidence from human and animal studies indicates that cannabidiol, the main non-psychotomimetic phytocannabinoid present in Cannabis sativa, alleviates anxiety in paradigms assessing innate fear.
More recently, the effects of cannabidiol on learned fear have been investigated in preclinical studies with translational relevance for phobias and PTSD.
Here we review the findings from these studies, with an emphasis on cannabidiol regulation of contextual fear.
The evidence indicates that cannabidiol reduces learned fear in different ways: (1) cannabidiol decreases fear expression acutely, (2) cannabidiol disrupts memory reconsolidation, leading to sustained fear attenuation upon memory retrieval, and (3) cannabidiol enhances extinction, the psychological process by which exposure therapy inhibits learned fear.
We also present novel data on cannabidiol regulation of learned fear related to explicit cues, which indicates that auditory fear expression is also reduced acutely by cannabidiol.
We conclude by outlining future directions for research to elucidate the neural circuit, psychological, cellular, and molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of fear memory processing by cannabidiol.
This line of investigation may lead to the development of cannabidiol as a novel therapeutic approach for treating anxiety and trauma-related disorders such as phobias and PTSD in the future.”
“In the last years, mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) from oral tissues have received considerable interest in regenerative medicine since they can be obtained with minimal invasive procedure and exhibit immunomodulatory properties.
This study was aimed to investigate whether in vitro pre-treatment of MSCs obtained from human gingiva (hGMSCs) with Cannabidiol (CBD), a cannabinoid component produced by the plant Cannabis sativa, may promote human gingiva derived MSCs to differentiate towards neuronal precursor cells.
From our results we hypothesize that human gingiva-derived MSCs conditioned with CBD could represent a valid method for improving the hGMSCs phenotype and thus might be a potential therapeutic tool in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.”
“To investigate the anti-inflammatory effect and the possible mechanisms of an agonist of cannabinoid (CB) receptors, WIN55-212-2 (WIN55), in mice with experimental colitis, so as to supply experimental evidence for its clinical use in future.
These results confirmed the anti-inflammatory effect and protective role of WIN55 on the mice with experimental colitis, and revealed that this agent exercises its action at least partially by inhibiting p38MAPK.
Furthermore, the results showed that SB203580, affected the expression of CB1 and CB2 receptors in the mouse colon, suggesting a close linkage and cross-talk between the p38MAPK signaling pathway and the endogenous CB system.”
“Most of the cannabinoids in Cannabis sativa L. have not been fully evaluated for their pharmacological activity.
A publication in this issue presents evidence that a plant cannabinoid, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabivarin is a potent antagonist of anandamide, a major endogenous cannabinoid.
It seems possible that many of the non-psychoactive constituents of this plant will be of biological interest.
I sincerely believe that the plant cannabinoids are a neglected pharmacological treasure trove.”
“THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects. It acts much like the cannabinoid chemicals made naturally by the body, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
Cannabinoid receptors are concentrated in certain areas of the brain associated with thinking, memory, pleasure, coordination and time perception. THC attaches to these receptors and activates them and affects a person’s memory, pleasure, movements, thinking, concentration, coordination, and sensory and time perception, according to NIDA.
THC is one of many compounds found in the resin secreted by glands of the marijuana plant. More of these glands are found around the reproductive organs of the plant than on any other area of the plant. Other compounds unique to marijuana, called cannabinoids, are present in this resin.
One cannabinoid, CBD is nonpsychoactive, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, and actually blocks the high associated with THC.”
http://www.livescience.com/24553-what-is-thc.html
http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/thc-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol/
“Substantial data have been accumulated regarding the molecular basis of cystic fibrosis (CF) pathogenesis, whereas the influence of biochemical impairments on brain processes has been the focus of much less attention. We have studied some behavioral parameters, such as motor activity and anxiety level, in a mice model of CF.
We have assumed that functioning of the endocannabinoid system could be impaired in CF (endocannabinoids are fatty acid derivatives, and fatty acid deficiency is considered a major factor in CF etiology). We have suggested that chronic treatment with cannabinoid receptors agonist during infancy would balance cannabinoid levels and prevent CF-related behavioral alterations.
Motor activity and anxiety level were studied in naïve adult CF mice (cftr-deficient mice) and compared with wild-type mice and to CF mice treated chronically with Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC; endocannabinoid receptor agonist) during infancy (from days 7 to 28). Motor activity was tested in the tetrad, and level of anxiety in the plus maze, a month after cessation of treatment.
Motor activity decrease and elevated anxiety level were found in adult naïve CF mice compared with wild-type mice. CF mice treated with THC in infancy showed normal motor activity and anxiety levels in adulthood. Motor function alteration and elevated anxiety levels in CF can result from lack of CFTR-channel in neurons and disturbed activity of various brain areas, as well as being secondary and mediated by fatty acids deficiency, altered levels of endocannabinoids and their receptors.
It can be suggested that chronic treatment during infancy restores endocannabinoid function and thus prevents behavioral alterations.”
“Schizophrenia is a serious mental health disorder characterized by several behavioral and biochemicel abnormalities.
In a previous study we have shown that mu-opioid (MOP) receptor signaling is impaired in specific brain regions of our three-hit animal model of schizophrenia. Since the cannabinoid system is significantly influenced in schizophrenic patients, in the present work we investigated cannabinoid (CB) receptor binding and G-protein activation in cortical, subcortical and cerebellar regions of control and ‘schizophrenic’ rats.
Taken together, in all three brain areas of model rats both cannabinoid receptor binding and cannabinoid agonist-mediated G-protein activation were regularly decreased.
Our results revealed that besides the opioids, the endocannabinoid – cannabis receptor system also shows impairment in our rat model, increasing its face validity and translational utility.”
