“Studies have suggested that the endocannabinoid system is implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia…
Our results indicate that the schizophrenia-like behaviors displayed by SHR are differently altered by cannabinoid and vanilloid drugs when compared to control animals and suggest the endocannabinoid and the vanilloid systems as a potential target for the treatment of schizophrenia.”
“Clinical and neurobiological findings suggest that the cannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system may be implicated in the pathophysiology and treatment of schizophrenia…
Our results reinforce the role of the endocannabinoid system in the sensorimotor gating impairment related to schizophrenia, and point to cannabinoid drugs as potential therapeutic strategies.”
“Cannabinoid receptors are expressed in the urinary bladder and may affect bladder function… CB2 receptors may be a viable target for pharmacological treatment of bladder inflammation and associated pain…
In this study, we have shown that CB1 and CB2 are present in the bladder and its innervation, and that expression of CB2 is increased in the bladders of rats with acute and chronic cystitis. Bladder inflammation and pain is the summation of a number of biological events, including participation of the endocannabinoid system.
The endocannabinoid system could play an important role in modulation of severity of bladder inflammation and pain, and it may be possible to take advantage of the cannabinoid system in the bladder to decrease inflammation and resultant pain.”
“Cannabinoids have been shown to exert analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects, and the effects of cannabinoids are mediated primarily by cannabinoid receptors 1 and 2 (CB1and CB2). Both CB1 and CB2 are present in bladders of various species, including human, monkey, and rodents, and it appears that CB2 is highly expressed in urothelial cells…
The results of the current study indicate that CB2 is a potential therapeutic target for treatment of bladder inflammation and pain in patients.”
“Recent experimental results have shown a functional role of the endocannabinoid system in urinary bladder. In this study, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of selective cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptor agonists in a mouse model of interstitial cystitis…
Taken together, these findings strongly suggest that modulation of the cannabinoid CB2 receptors might be a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of bladder diseases and conditions characterized by inflammation, such as interstitial cystitis.”
“Humans report a wide range of neurobiological rewards following moderate and intense aerobic activity, popularly referred to as the ‘runner’s high’, which may function to encourage habitual aerobic exercise. Endocannabinoids (eCBs) are endogenous neurotransmitters that appear to play a major role in generating these rewards by activating cannabinoid receptors in brain reward regions during and after exercise…”
Recent work supports direct links between eCB signaling and exercise in humans…
It is possible that neurobiological rewards induced by eCB signaling are an ancient human trait that evolved to encourage aerobic activity, and that the rewards explain the evolution…
The fact that running, and endurance exercise in general, remains an enjoyable and psychologically beneficial recreational activity for tens of millions of humans today suggests that we still may respond to a neurobiological trait that evolved early in our lineage.”
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/215/8/1331.long
“The endocannabinoid system is known to have positive effects on depression partly through its actions on neurotrophins, such as Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). As BDNF is also considered the major candidate molecule for exercise-induced brain plasticity, we hypothesized that the endocannabinoid system represents a crucial signaling system mediating the beneficial antidepressant effects of exercise…
These findings provide evidence in humans that acute exercise represents a physiological stressor able to increase peripheral levels of AEA and that BDNF might be a mechanism by which AEA influences the neuroplastic and antidepressant effects of exercise.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22029953
“Endocannabinoids (eCB) are endogenous ligands for cannabinoid receptors that are densely expressed in brain networks responsible for reward. Recent work shows that exercise activates the eCB system in humans and other mammals, suggesting eCBs are partly responsible for the reported improvements in mood and affect following aerobic exercise in humans.
However, exercise-induced psychological changes reported by runners are known to be dependent on exercise intensity, suggesting that any underlying molecular mechanism should also change with varying levels of exercise intensity.
Here, we examine circulating levels of eCBs following aerobic exercise (treadmill running) in recreationally fit human runners at four different intensities.
We show that eCB signaling is indeed intensity dependent, with significant changes in circulating eCBs observed following moderate intensities only (very high and very low intensity exercises do not significantly alter circulating eCB levels).
Our results are consistent with intensity-dependent psychological state changes with exercise and therefore support the hypothesis that eCB activity is related to neurobiological effects of exercise.
Thus, future studies examining the role of exercise-induced eCB signaling on neurobiology or physiology must take exercise intensity into account.”
“The effects of physical exercise stress on the endocannabinoid system in humans are almost unexplored. In this prospective study, we investigated in a crossover design and under field conditions at different altitudes the effects of physical exercise on the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in 12 trained healthy volunteers…
We conclude that the ECS is activated upon strenuous exercise whereas the combination with hypoxic stress further increases its activity.
In summary, physical exercise activates the endocannabinoid system, whereas the combination with high altitude enhances this activation.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22101870