“Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is the main cause of both primary graft dysfunction and primary non-function of liver allografts.
Cannabinoids has been reported to attenuate myocardial, cerebral and hepatic I/R oxidative injury.
Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a cannabinoid agonist, is the active components of marijuana.
In this study we examined the role of ultralow dose THC (0.002mg/kg) in the protection of livers from I/R injury. This extremely low dose of THC was previously found by us to protect the mice brain and heart from a variety of insults.
CONCLUSION:
A single ultralow dose THC can reduce the apoptotic, oxidative and inflammatory injury induced by hepatic I/R injury.
THC may serve as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in hepatic I/R injury during liver transplantation, liver resection and trauma.”