“Cannabis sativa active compounds are extensively studied for their therapeutic effects, beyond the well-known psychotropic activity. C. Sativa is used to treat different medical indications, such as multiple sclerosis, spasticity, epilepsy, ulcerative colitis and pain. Simultaneously, basic research is discovering new constituents of cannabis-derived compounds and their receptors capable of neuroprotection and neuronal activity modulation. The function of the various phytochemicals in different therapeutic processes is not fully understood, but their significant role is starting to emerge and be appreciated. In this review, we will consider the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of cannabinoid compounds able to bind to cannabinoid receptors and act as therapeutic agents in neuronal diseases, e.g., Parkinson’s disease.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29941830 http://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/23/7/1526]]>
Category Archives: Pain
Medical Cannabis in Patients with Chronic Pain: Effect on Pain Relief, Pain Disability, and Psychological aspects. A Prospective Non randomized Single Arm Clinical Trial.
“There is an increasing interest in the medical use of cannabis, particularly in the treatment of chronic pain.
OBJECTIVES:
The aim is to evaluate the effects of cannabis use and the associated benefits reported by patients with various chronic pain diagnoses.RESULTS:
Pain intensity records a statistically significant reduction from Baseline to 12 months follow up (X² 61.375; P<0,001); the im- provements from Baseline to 12 months follow up are also recorded in pain disability (X² 39.423; P<0,001) and in anxiety and depression symptoms (X²30.362; P<0,001; X²27.786; P<0,001).CONCLUSIONS:
Our study suggest that Cannabis therapy, as an adjun- ct a traditional analgesic therapy, can be an efficacious tool to make more effective the management of chronic pain and its consequences on functional and psychological dimension. Further randomized, controlled trials are needed to confirm our conclusions.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29938740The relationship of endocannabinoidome lipid mediators with pain and psychological stress in women with fibromyalgia – a case control study.
“Characterized by chronic widespread pain, generalized hyperalgesia, and psychological stress fibromyalgia (FM) is difficult to diagnose and lacks effective treatments. The endocannabinoids – arachidonoylethanolamide (AEA), 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), and the related oleoylethanolamide (OEA), palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), and stearoylethanolamide (SEA) – are endogenous lipid mediators with analgesic and anti-inflammatory characteristics, in company with psychological modulating properties (e.g., stress and anxiety), and are included in a new emerging “ome”, the endocannabinoidome. This case -control study compared the concentration differences of AEA, OEA, PEA, SEA, and 2-AG in 104 women with FM and 116 healthy controls (CON). All participants OEArated their pain, anxiety, depression, and current health status. The relationships between the lipid concentrations and the clinical assessments were investigated using powerful multivariate data analysis and traditional bivariate statistics. The concentrations of OEA, PEA, SEA, and 2-AG were significantly higher in FM than in CON; significance remained for OEA and SEA after controlling for BMI and age. 2-AG correlated positively with FM duration and BMI, and to some extent negatively with pain, anxiety, depression, and health status. In FM, AEA correlated positively with depression ratings. The elevated circulating levels of endocannabinoidome lipids suggest that these lipids play a role in the complex pathophysiology of FM and might be signs of ongoing low-grade inflammation in FM. Although the investigated lipids are significantly altered in FM their biological roles are uncertain with respect to the clinical manifestations of FM. Thus, plasma lipids alone are not good biomarkers for FM.
PERSPECTIVE:
This study reports about elevated plasma levels of endocannabinoidome lipid mediators in FM. The lipids suitability to work as biomarkers for FM in the clinic were low, however their altered levels indicate that a metabolic asymmetry is ongoing in FM, which could serve as basis during explorative FM pain management.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29885369 https://www.jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(18)30197-4/fulltext]]>Cannabinoid receptor type 1 in the brain regulates the affective component of visceral pain in mice.
“Endocannabinoids acting through cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) are major modulators of peripheral somatic and visceral nociception. Although only partially studied, some evidence suggests a particular role of CB1 within the brain in nociceptive processes.
As the endocannabinoid system regulates affect and emotional behaviors, we hypothesized that cerebral CB1 influences affective processing of visceral pain-related behaviors in laboratory animals.
To study nocifensive responses modulated by supraspinal CB1, we used conditional knock-out mice lacking CB1 either in cortical glutamatergic neurons (Glu-CB1-KO), or in forebrain GABAergic neurons (GABA-CB1-KO), or in principle neurons of the forebrain (CaMK-CB1-KO). These mutant mice and mice treated with the CB1 antagonist SR141716 were tested for different pain-related behaviors. In an acetic acid-induced abdominal constriction test, supraspinal CB1 deletions did not affect nocifensive responses. In the cerulein-model of acute pancreatitis, mechanical allodynia or hyperalgesia were not changed, but Glu-CB1- and CaMK-CB1-KO mice showed significantly increased facial grimacing scores indicating increased affective responses to this noxious visceral stimulus. Similarly, these brain-specific CB1 KO mice also showed significantly changed thermal nociception in a hot-plate test.
These results reveal a novel, and important role of CB1 expressed by cortical glutamatergic neurons in the affective component of visceral nociception.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29885522
“Pain is a serious health problem that is commonly treated with opioids, although the doses of opioids needed to treat pain are often similar to those that decrease respiration. Combining opioids with drugs that relieve pain through non-opioid mechanisms can decrease the doses of opioids needed for analgesia, resulting in an improved therapeutic window, but only if the doses of opioids that decrease respiration are not similarly decreased. Using small doses of opioids to treat pain has the potential to reduce the number of overdoses and deaths.
This study investigated whether the 
“Medicinal cannabis registries typically report pain as the most common reason for use. It would be clinically useful to identify patterns of cannabis treatment in migraine and headache, as compared to arthritis and chronic pain, and to analyze preferred cannabis strains, biochemical profiles, and prescription medication substitutions with cannabis.
“Epidermolysis bullosa is a rare blistering skin disorder that is challenging to manage because skin fragility and repeated wound healing cause itching, pain, limited mobility, and recurrent infections.