Tag Archives: terpenes

Anti-Cancer Potential of Cannabinoids, Terpenes, and Flavonoids Present in Cannabis

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cancers-logo“In recent years, and even more since its legalization in several jurisdictions, cannabis and the endocannabinoid system have received an increasing amount of interest related to their potential exploitation in clinical settings. Cannabinoids have been suggested and shown to be effective in the treatment of various conditions. In cancer, the endocannabinoid system is altered in numerous types of tumours and can relate to cancer prognosis and disease outcome. Additionally, cannabinoids display anticancer effects in several models by suppressing the proliferation, migration and/or invasion of cancer cells, as well as tumour angiogenesis. However, the therapeutic use of cannabinoids is currently limited to the treatment of symptoms and pain associated with chemotherapy, while their potential use as cytotoxic drugs in chemotherapy still requires validation in patients. Along with cannabinoids, cannabis contains several other compounds that have also been shown to exert anti-tumorigenic actions. The potential anti-cancer effects of cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids, present in cannabis, are explored in this literature review.”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32708138/

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/12/7/1985

Naturally Occurring Cannabinoids and their Role in Modulation of Cardiovascular Health

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 Publication Cover“In recent years, the role of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in various cardiovascular conditions has been a subject of great interest. The ECS is composed of cannabinoid receptors, their endogenous ligands, also known as endocannabinoids, and enzymes responsible for the synthesis and degradation of endocannabinoids.

Several lines of evidence suggest that the ECS plays a complex role in cardiac and vascular systems; however, under normal physiological conditions the functions of the ECS are limited. Overactivation of components of the ECS has been associated with various cardiovascular conditions.

Intriguingly, activation of the ECS may also reflect a cardioprotective compensatory mechanism. With this knowledge, a range of naturally occurring and synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists and antagonists, as well as inhibitors of endocannabinoid metabolic enzymes have emerged as promising approaches for the treatment or management of cardiovascular health.

This review will first focus on the known role of the ECS in regulating the cardiovascular system. Secondly, we discuss emerging data highlighting the therapeutic potential of naturally occurring non-psychoactive ECS modulators within the cardiovascular system, including phytocannabinoids, terpenes, and the endocannabinoid-like molecule palmitoylethanolamide.”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32677481/

“Several approaches discussed here, including administration of eCB-related molecules such as PEA, or supplementing with various phytocannabinoids can be promising candidates for the management of cardiovascular risk factors and CVD.”

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19390211.2020.1790708

Cannabis Phytomolecule ‘Entourage’: From Domestication to Medical Use.

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Trends in Plant Science: Special issue: Specifi...“Cannabis has been used as a medicine for millennia.

Crude extracts of cannabis inflorescence contain numerous phytomolecules, including phytocannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids. Combinations of phytomolecules have been recently established as superior to the use of single molecules in medical treatment owing to the ‘entourage effect’.

Two types of entourage effects are defined: ‘intra-entourage’, resulting from interactions among phytocannabinoids or terpenes, and ‘inter-entourage’, attributed to interactions between phytocannabinoids and terpenes. It is suggested that the phytomolecule assemblages found in cannabis chemovars today derive from selective breeding during ancient cultivation.

We propose that the current cannabis chemotaxonomy should be redefined according to chemical content and medicinal activity. In parallel, combinations of phytomolecules that exhibit entourage activity should be explored further for future drug development.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32417167

“Cannabis has been used for millennia by humanity for social, ritual, and medical purposes. Humans bred and selected for cannabis strains based on their needs.”

https://www.cell.com/trends/plant-science/pdf/S1360-1385(20)30122-9.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1360138520301229%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Innovative methods for the preparation of medical Cannabis oils with a high content of both cannabinoids and terpenes.

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Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis“Cannabis-based medications are being increasingly used for the treatment of different clinical conditions.

Among all galenic formulations, olive oil extracts from medical Cannabis are the most prescribed ones for their easy preparation and usage. A great variety of methods have been described so far for the extraction of medical Cannabis oils to reach a high yield of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), but poor attention has been paid to the preservation of the terpene fraction from the plant, which may contribute to the overall bioactivity of the extracts.

In this context, the present study was aimed at the chemical characterization of different medical Cannabis oils prepared by following both innovative and existing extraction protocols, with particular attention to cannabinoids and terpenes, in order to set up a suitable method to obtain an extract rich in these chemical classes. In particular, six different extraction procedures were followed, based on different techniques, of which all but one included a decarboxylation of the plant material.

The profile of cannabinoids was studied in detail by means of HPLC-ESI-MS/MS, while terpenes were characterized by means both GC-MS and GC-FID techniques coupled with solid-phase microextraction operated in the head-space mode (HS-SPME). An innovative method that is based on the extraction of the oil by dynamic maceration at room temperature from plant inflorescences, which were partially decarboxylated in a closed system at a moderate temperature and partially pre-extracted with ethanol, produced similar yields of bioactive compounds as that obtained by using a microwave-assisted distillation of the essential oil from the plant material, in combination with a maceration extraction of the oil from the residue.

Both these new methods provided a higher efficiency over already existing extraction procedures of medical Cannabis oils and they can be applied to obtain a product with a high therapeutic value.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32334134

“New methods were developed for the extraction of medical Cannabis oils.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0731708520303897?via%3Dihub

Simultaneous determination of terpenes and cannabidiol in hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) by fast Gas Chromatography with Flame Ionization Detection.

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Journal of Separation Science“Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) has become widely used in several sectors due to the presence of various bioactive compounds such as terpenes and cannabidiol. In general, terpenes and cannabidiol content is determined separately which is time-consuming. Thus, a fast Gas Chromatography with Flame Ionization Detection method was validated for simultaneous determination of both terpenes and cannabidiol in hemp. The method enabled a rapid detection of 29 different terpenes and cannabidiol within a total analysis time of 16 min, with satisfactory sensitivity (LOD = 0.03 – 0.27 μg/mL, LOQ = 0.10 – 0.89 μg/mL). The interday and intraday precision (RSD) was <7.82 % and <3.59 %, respectively. Recoveries at two spiked concentration levels (low, 3.15 μg/mL; high, 20.0 μg/mL) were determined on both apical leaves (78.55 – 101.52 %) and inflorescences (77.52 – 107.10 %). The reproducibility (RSD) was <5.94 % and <5.51 % in apical leaves and inflorescences, respectively. The proposed and validated method is highly sensitive, robust, fast, and accurate for determination of the main terpenes and cannabidiol in hemp and could be routinely used for quality control.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32329135

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jssc.201900822

Promising in vitro antioxidant, anti-acetylcholinesterase and neuroactive effects of essential oil from two non-psychotropic Cannabis sativa L. biotypes.

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Phytotherapy Research“The aim of this study was to compare the micro-morphological features of two different non-drug Cannabis sativa L. biotypes (Chinese accession G-309 and one fibrante variety) and to evaluate the phytochemical profile as well as some biological properties of the essential oils (EOs) obtained by hydrodistillation of dried flowering tops. After a micro-morphological evaluation by scanning electron microscopy, the phytochemical composition was analysed by GC-FID and GC-MS analyses.

Antioxidant and anti-acetylcholinesterase properties were investigated by several in vitro cell-free assays, while neuroactive effects were evaluated on mouse cortical neuronal as well as human iPS cell-derived central nervous system cells grown on MEA chips. Both EOs showed strong antioxidant properties mainly attributable to the high content of hydroxylated compounds as well as significant anti-acetylcholinesterase activities (IC50 74.64 and 57.31 μg/ml for Chinese accession and fibrante variety, respectively).

Furthermore, they showed a concentration-dependent inhibition of spontaneous electrical activity of human and mouse neuronal networks, with the fibrante variety, which showed the best activity (MFR, IC50 0.71 and 10.60 μg/ml, respectively). The observed biological activities could be due to a synergic effect between terpenes and phytocannabinoids, although in vivo studies, which clarify the molecular mechanism, are still lacking.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32309898

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ptr.6678

Cannabidiol (CBD).

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Cover of StatPearls“Cannabis sativa or Indian hemp (subfamily Cannaboideae of family Moraceae) is an annual herbaceous plant, native to central and western Asia, cultivated for medicinal properties and for hemp, which is a natural textile fiber. The plant contains over 400 chemical compounds, of which approximately 80 biologically active chemical molecules. The most important cannabis compounds are cannabinoids formed by a terpene combined with resorcinol, or, according to a different nomenclature, by a benzopyranic ring system. There are about sixty cannabinoids, of which the most important psychoactive compound is tetrahydrocannabinol (TCH), in particular the isomer delta (Δ9-THC). Other identified compounds are cannabidiol (CBD), cannabigerol (CBG), cannabinol (CBN), cannabichromene (CBC), and olivetol. In addition to cannabinoids, the plant contains terpenoids such as beta-myrcene, beta-caryophyllene, d-limonene, linalool, piperidine, and p-cymene, as well as flavonoids such as quercetin.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32310508

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556048/

Synergistic cytotoxic activity of cannabinoids from cannabis sativa against cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) in-vitro and ex-vivo.

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 Peer-reviewed Oncology & Cancer Research Journal | Oncotarget“Cannabis sativa produces hundreds of phytocannabinoids and terpenes.

Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common type of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), characterized by patches, plaques and tumors. Sézary is a leukemic stage of CTCL presenting with erythroderma and the presence of neoplastic Sézary T-cells in peripheral blood.

This study aimed to identify active compounds from whole cannabis extracts and their synergistic mixtures, and to assess respective cytotoxic activity against CTCL cells.

This mixture induced cell cycle arrest and cell apoptosis. Significant cytotoxic activity of the corresponding mixture of pure phytocannabinoids further verified genuine interaction between S4 and S5.

We suggest that specifying formulations of synergistic active cannabis compounds and unraveling their modes of action may lead to new cannabis-based therapies.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32284791

“Cannabis sativa has been used by humanity for thousands of years. Various phytocannabinoids exhibit antitumor effects in a wide array of cell lines and animal models. We have shown that a certain synergistic mixture of phytocannabinoids derived from C. sativa extracts have significant cytotoxic activity against My-La and HuT-78 cell lines and against SPBL.

To conclude, active cannabis extract fractions and their synergistic combinations were cytotoxic to CTCL cell lines in in-vitro and to SPBL in ex-vivo studies. The defined S4+S5 formulation of synergistic phytocannabinoids induced cell cycle arrest and cell apoptosis, and affected multiple biological pathways, including those associated with cancer. Based on this pre-clinical study new cannabis-based products that are based on precise composition of synergistically interacting compounds may be developed.”

https://www.oncotarget.com/article/27528/text/

The anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of formulated full-spectrum cannabis extract in the treatment of neuropathic pain associated with multiple sclerosis.

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 SpringerLink“Cannabis has been used for thousands of years in many cultures for the treatment of several ailments including pain.

The benefits of cannabis are mediated largely by cannabinoids, the most prominent of which are tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). As such, THC and/or CBD have been investigated in clinical studies for the treatment of many conditions including neuropathic pain and acute or chronic inflammation.

While a plethora of studies have examined the biochemical effects of purified THC and/or CBD, only a few have focused on the effects of full-spectrum cannabis plant extract. Accordingly, studies using purified THC or CBD may not accurately reflect the potential health benefits of full-spectrum cannabis extracts.

Indeed, the cannabis plant produces a wide range of cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids, and other bioactive molecules which are likely to contribute to the different biological effects. The presence of all these bioactive molecules in cannabis extracts has garnered much attention of late especially with regard to their potential role in the treatment of neuropathic pain associated with multiple sclerosis.:

Herein, the current knowledge about the potential beneficial effects of existing products of full-spectrum cannabis extract in clinical studies involving patients with multiple sclerosis is extensively reviewed. In addition, the possible adverse effects associated with cannabis use is discussed along with how the method of extraction and the delivery mechanisms of different cannabis extracts contribute to the pharmacokinetic and biological effects of full-spectrum cannabis extracts.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32239248

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00011-020-01341-1

Anti-inflammatory Potential of Terpenes Present in Cannabis sativa L.

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Go to Volume 0, Issue 0 “Cannabis sativa L. (C. sativa) contains an array of plant-derived (phyto) cannabinoids and terpenes that are predominantly located in the trichome cavity of the plant. Terpenes, aromatic organic hydrocarbons characterized for their role in plant protection/pollination, are gaining attention for their potential as novel therapeutics in many areas of biomedicine. This Viewpoint will explore the exciting recent evidence that terpenes have anti-inflammatory/antioxidant propensity by targeting inflammatory signaling mechanisms relevant to human disease. Given their anti-inflammatory properties, terpenes may contribute to the effects of current cannabinoid-based therapies.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32091871

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acschemneuro.0c00075