Category Archives: THC (Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol)

Medical cannabis for inflammatory bowel disease: real-life experience of mode of consumption and assessment of side-effects.

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Image result for ovid journal“Use of medical cannabis for improving symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease is increasing. However, reports on long-term outcomes are lacking. This prospective, observational study assessed the effects of licensed cannabis use among patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

METHODS:

Dose and mode of consumption, adverse events, use of other medications, and long-term effects were evaluated among 127 patients with inflammatory bowel disease using legalized medical cannabis. Blood count, albumin, and C-reactive protein were assessed before, 1 month, and at least 1 year after medical cannabis therapy was initiated. Questionnaires on disease activity, patient function, and signs of addiction were completed by patients and by a significant family member to assess its effects.

RESULTS:

The average dose used was 31 ± 15 g/month. The average Harvey-Bradshaw index improved from 14 ± 6.7 to 7 ± 4.7 (P < 0.001) during a median follow-up of 44 months (interquartile range, 24-56 months). There was a slight, but statistically significant, average weight gain of 2 kg within 1 year of cannabis use. The need for other medications was significantly reduced. Employment among patients increased from 65 to 74% (P < 0.05). We conclude that the majority of inflammatory bowel disease patients using cannabis are satisfied with a dose of 30 g/month. We did not observe negative effects of cannabis use on the patients’ social or occupational status.

CONCLUSIONS:

Cannabis use by inflammatory bowel disease patients can induce clinical improvement and is associated with reduced use of medication and slight weight gain. Most patients respond well to a dose of 30 g/month, or 21 mg Δ9-tetra- hydrocannabinol (THC) and 170 mg Cannabidiol (CBD) per day.”

 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31567639
https://insights.ovid.com/crossref?an=00042737-900000000-97736

Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol During Adolescence Attenuates Disruption of Dopamine Function Induced in Rats by Maternal Immune Activation.

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Image result for frontiers in behavioral neuroscience“Here, we hypothesized that adolescent Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) worsens the impact of prenatal maternal immune activation (MIA) on ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine cells in rat offspring.

Adolescent THC attenuated several MIA-induced effects.

Contrary to our expectations, adolescent THC did not worsen MIA-induced deficits.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31551729

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00202/full

A Novel Highly Selective Cannabinoid CB2 Agonist Reduces in Vitro Growth and TGF-beta Release of Human Glial Cell Tumors.

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“Cannabinoid receptors have been detected in human gliomas and cannabinoids have been proposed as novel drug candidates in the treatment of brain tumors.

Aim of this study was to test the in vitro antitumor activity of COR167, a novel cannabinoid CB2-selective agonist displaying high binding affinity for human CB2 receptors, on tumor cells isolated from human glioblastoma multiforme and anaplastic astrocytoma.

RESULTS:

COR167 was found to significantly reduce the proliferation of both glioblastoma and anaplastic astrocytoma in a dose-dependent manner at lower doses than other known, less specific CB2 agonists. This activity is independent of apoptosis and is associated with significant reduction of TGF-beta 1 and 2 levels in supernatants of glioma cell cultures.

CONCLUSIONS:

These findings add to the role of cannabinoid CB2 receptor as a possible pharmacological target to counteract glial tumor growth and encourage further work to explore any other pharmacological effect of this novel CB2 agonist useful in the treatment of human gliomas.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31549596

http://www.eurekaselect.com/175066/article

Potential of Cannabinoid Receptor Ligands as Treatment for Substance Use Disorders.

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 “Substance use disorder (SUD) is a major public health crisis worldwide, and effective treatment options are limited.

During the past 2 decades, researchers have investigated the impact of a variety of pharmacological approaches to treat SUD, one of which is the use of medical cannabis or cannabinoids.

Significant progress was made with the discovery of rimonabant, a selective CB1 receptor (CB1R) antagonist (also an inverse agonist), as a promising therapeutic for SUDs and obesity. However, serious adverse effects such as depression and suicidality led to the withdrawal of rimonabant (and almost all other CB1R antagonists/inverse agonists) from clinical trials worldwide in 2008.

Since then, much research interest has shifted to other cannabinoid-based strategies, such as peripheral CB1R antagonists/inverse agonists, neutral CB1R antagonists, allosteric CB1R modulators, CB2R agonists, fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitors, monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) inhibitors, fatty acid binding protein (FABP) inhibitors, or nonaddictive phytocannabinoids with CB1R or CB2R-binding profiles, as new therapeutics for SUDs.

In this article, we first review recent progress in research regarding the endocannabinoid systems, cannabis reward versus aversion, and the underlying receptor mechanisms. We then review recent progress in cannabinoid-based medication development for the treatment of SUDs.

As evidence continues to accumulate, neutral CB1R antagonists (such as AM4113), CB2R agonists (JWH133, Xie2-64), and nonselective phytocannabinoids (cannabidiol, β-caryophyllene, ∆9-tetrahydrocannabivarin) have shown great therapeutic potential for SUDs, as shown in experimental animals.

Several cannabinoid-based medications (e.g., dronabinol, nabilone, PF-04457845) that entered clinical trials have shown promising results in reducing withdrawal symptoms in cannabis and opioid users.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31549358

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40263-019-00664-w

Agitation, Oxidative Stress, and Cytokines in Alzheimer Disease: Biomarker Analyses From a Clinical Trial With Nabilone for Agitation.

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 Image result for journal of geriatric psychiatry and neurology

“The endocannabinoid system has been a target of interest for agitation in Alzheimer disease (AD) because of potential behavioral effects and its potential impact on mechanisms implicated in AD such as oxidative stress (OS) and neuroinflammation.

We explored whether serum markers of OS and neuroinflammation were associated with response to the cannabinoid nabilone in agitated patients with AD (N = 38).

These findings suggest that OS and neuroinflammation may be associated with agitation severity, while nabilone may have anti-inflammatory effects.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31547752

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0891988719874118?journalCode=jgpb

Selective Cannabinoid 2 Receptor Agonists as Potential Therapeutic Drugs for the Treatment of Endotoxin-Induced Uveitis.

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molecules-logo“The cannabinoid 2 receptor (CB2R) is a promising anti-inflammatory drug target and development of selective CB2R ligands may be useful for treating sight-threatening ocular inflammation. This study examined the pharmacology of three novel chemically-diverse selective CB2R ligands. These unique ligands are potent and selective for CB2R and have good immunomodulating actions in the eye. The data generated with these three structurally-diverse and highly-selective CB2R agonists support selective targeting of CB2R for treating ocular inflammatory diseases.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31540271
https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/24/18/3338

Perception of Benefits and Harms of Medical Cannabis among Seriously Ill Patients in an Outpatient Palliative Care Practice.

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“Patients with serious illness often have pain, uncontrolled symptoms, and poor quality of life. Evidence continues to evolve regarding the role of cannabis to treat chronic pain, nausea, and anorexia. Little is known about how patients with serious illness perceive its benefits and harms. Given that an increasing number of clinicians across the United States are treating patients with medical cannabis, it is important for providers to understand patient beliefs about this modality. We assessed patient perceptions of benefits and harms of cannabis who obtained a medical cannabis card within an ambulatory palliative care (APC) practice.

Results: All 101 patients invited to participate completed the survey. A majority had cancer (76%) and were married (61%), disabled or retired (75%), older than 50 years of age (64%), and men (56%). Most patients ingested (61%) or vaporized (49%) cannabis products. A majority of respondents perceived cannabis to be important for their pain (96%) management. They reported that side effects were minimally bothersome, and drowsiness was the most commonly reported bothersome harm (28%). A minority of patients reported cannabis withdrawal symptoms (19%) and concerns for dependency (14%). The majority of patients were using concurrent prescription opioids (65%). Furthermore, a majority of cancer patients reported cannabis as being important for cancer cure (59%).

Conclusion: Patients living with serious illnesses who use cannabis in the context of a multidisciplinary APC practice use cannabis for curative intent and for pain and symptom control. Patients reported improved pain, other symptoms, and a sense of well-being with few reported harms.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31539298

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/jpm.2019.0211

Medical cannabis for chronic pain: can it make a difference in pain management?

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 “Globally, chronic pain is a major therapeutic challenge and affects more than 15% of the population. As patients with painful terminal diseases may face unbearable pain, there is a need for more potent analgesics.

Although opioid-based therapeutic agents received attention to manage severe pain, their adverse drug effects and mortality rate associated with opioids overdose are the major concerns.

Evidences from clinical trials showed therapeutic benefits of cannabis, especially delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabinoids reduced neuropathic pain intensity in various conditions. Also, there are reports on using combination cannabinoid therapies for chronic pain management.

The association of cannabis dependence and addiction has been discussed much and the reports mentioned that it can be comparatively lower than other substances such as nicotine and alcohol.

More countries have decided to legalise the medicinal use of cannabis and marijuana.

Healthcare professionals should keep themselves updated with the changing state of medical cannabis and its applications.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31535218

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00540-019-02680-y