“Chronic pain affects a significant percentage of the United States population, and available pain medications like opioids have drawbacks that make long-term use untenable.
Cannabinoids show promise in the management of pain, but long-term treatment of pain with cannabinoids has been challenging to implement in preclinical models. We developed a voluntary, gelatin oral self-administration paradigm that allowed male and female mice to consume ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol, or morphine ad libitum.
Mice stably consumed these gelatins over 3 weeks, with detectable serum levels. Using a real-time gelatin measurement system, we observed that mice consumed gelatin throughout the light and dark cycles, with animals consuming less THC-gelatin than the other gelatin groups.
Consumption of all three gelatins reduced measures of allodynia in a chronic, neuropathic sciatic nerve injury model, but tolerance to morphine developed after 1 week while THC or CBD reduced allodynia over three weeks. Hyperalgesia gradually developed after sciatic nerve injury, and by the last day of testing, THC significantly reduced hyperalgesia, with a trend effect of CBD, and no effect of morphine. Mouse vocalizations were recorded throughout the experiment, and mice showed a large increase in ultrasonic, broadband clicks after sciatic nerve injury, which was reversed by THC, CBD, and morphine.
This study demonstrates that mice voluntarily consume both cannabinoids and opioids via gelatin, and that cannabinoids provide long-term relief of chronic pain states. In addition, ultrasonic clicks may objectively represent mouse pain status and could be integrated into future pain models.”
“Despite improvements in medical care, patients with advanced cancer still experience substantial symptom distress. There is increasing interest in the use of medicinal
“Cannabidiol (CBD) has emerged as a potential agent for breast cancer management.
“Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects approximately 50 million people worldwide.
“High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a late phase inflammatory mediator in many inflammatory diseases. Extracellular HMGB1 could bind to many membrane receptors to activate downstream signaling molecules and promote inflammation resulting in cell and tissue damage.
“Aging and HIV have adverse effects on the central nervous system, including increased inflammation and neural injury and confer risk of neurocognitive impairment (NCI).
“The endocannabinoid system (ECS) has emerged in recent years as a potential treatment target for alcohol use disorders (AUD).
“This study attempted to provide the effects and mechanisms of two cannabinoids, O-1602 and
“There is considerable interest in the use of cannabinoids for symptom control in palliative care, but there is little high-quality evidence to guide clinical practice.
“A 64 year old male heating engineer was investigated for a persistent cough and found to have epithelioid mesothelioma with pleural effusion, lung nodules and increased thoracic lymph nodes. He declined standard of care treatment following his own research and he was enrolled in a named patient programme of IMM-101. He was advised to correct his low vitamin D3 level and to start using anti-inflammatories such as aspirin, bromelain and low dose Naltrexone. At review one year later a CT scan showed no change and he continued on the regimen. Four years after the diagnosis a CT scan showed that there was a modest but definite progression of the left malignant pleural thickening, and a new right-sided effusion, enlargement of several intrathoracic nodes which had been noted on the early scans. The chest wall lump eventually broke down and required local radiotherapy. He then developed abdominal pain and found to have peritoneal disease. Last year he obtained the