“Cannabinoids have anti-inflammatory effects and can produce bronchodilation in the airways.
We have investigated the effects of cannabinoids on tracheal hyperreactivity and airway inflammation in dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB)-induced experimental non-atopic asthma in mice.
These results show that cannabinoid CB1 receptor agonist can prevent tracheal hyperreactivity to 5-HT in DNFB-induced non-atopic asthma in mice.”
“Modulation of the CB2 receptor is an interesting approach for pain and inflammation, arthritis, addictions, neuroprotection, and cancer, among other possible therapeutic applications, and is devoid of central side effects.
“Inflammatory response plays an important role in the activation and progress of many debilitating diseases. Natural products, like cannabidiol, a constituent of Cannabis sativa, and moringin, an isothiocyanate obtained from myrosinase-mediated hydrolysis of the glucosinolate precursor glucomoringin present in Moringa oleifera seeds, are well known antioxidants also endowed with anti-inflammatory activity.
This is due to a covalent-based mechanism for ITC, while non-covalent interactions underlie the activity of CBD. Since these two mechanisms are distinct, and the molecular endpoints are potentially complementary, we investigated in a comparative way the protective effect of these compounds alone or in combination on lipopolysaccharide-stimulated murine macrophages.
Our results show that the cannabidiol (5μM) and moringin (5μM) combination outperformed the single constituents that, at this dosage had only a moderate efficacy on inflammatory (Tumor necrosis factor-α, Interleukin-10) and oxidative markers (inducible nitric oxide synthase, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2, nitrotyrosine). Significant upregulation of Bcl-2 and downregulation of Bax and cleaved caspase-3 was observed in cells treated with cannabidiol-moringin combination.
Treatment with the transient receptor potential vanilloid receptor 1 antagonist was detrimental for the efficacy of cannabidiol, while no effect was elicited by cannabinoid receptor 1 and cannabinoid receptor 2 antagonists. None of these receptors was involved in the activity of moringin.
Taken together, our in vitro results testify the anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and anti-apoptotic effects of the combination of cannabidiol and moringin.”
“The cannabis plant has been known to humanity for centuries as a remedy for pain, diarrhea and inflammation.
Current research is inspecting the use of cannabis for many diseases, including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, dystonia, and chronic pain.
In inflammatory conditions cannabinoids improve pain in rheumatoid arthritis and: pain and diarrhea in Crohn’s disease.
Despite their therapeutic potential, cannabinoids are not free of side effects including psychosis, anxiety, paranoia, dependence and abuse.
Controlled clinical studies investigating the therapeutic potential of cannabis are few and small, whereas pressure for expanding cannabis use is increasing.
Currently, as long as cannabis is classified as an illicit drug and until further controlled studies are performed, the use of medical cannabis should be limited to patients who failed conventional better established treatment.”
“Brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), often involve specific early alterations in the metabolism of glucose in the brain.
The idea of alleviating symptoms of dementia by boosting cerebral energy metabolism has been toyed with for decades, yet safe pharmacological agents with well characterized mechanism of action are still lacking.
In this sense, we have investigated here the local cerebral glucoregulatory potential of the endocannabinoid system in rodents.
Cannabinoid CB2 receptors (CB2Rs) are emerging as important therapeutic targets in brain disorders that typically involve neurometabolic alterations.
Together, these results reveal a novel general glucoregulatory role for CB2Rs in the brain, raising therapeutic interest in CB2R agonists as nootropic agents.
In conclusion, the present results provide the first direct pharmacological evidence in vitroand in vivo of a role of CB2R in central glucoregulation.
Additionally, we found that glucoregulation by endogenous CB2R signalling is negatively affected by β-amyloidosis, thought to be the first pathological step in AD.
Therefore, it would be interesting to perform further studies to define how CB2R mediated glucoregulation contributes to the recently discovered therapeutic potential of CB2R agonists in animal models of AD”
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0028390816300879
“In this study we utilise multilevel models with longitudinal data to simultaneously estimate between-child and within-child effects in the relationship between residential mobility and cannabis use, allowing us to determine the extent to which cannabis use in adolescence is driven by residential mobility and unobserved confounding.
Our findings suggest that residential mobility in the teenage years does not place children at an increased risk of cannabis use throughout these years.”
“Sativex, a cannabinoid extract with a 1 : 1 ratio of tetrahydocannabinol and cannabidiol, has been shown to alleviate neuropathic pain associated with chemotherapy.
This research examined whether tetrahydocannabinol or cannabidiol alone could attenuate or prevent cisplatin-induced tactile allodynia.
These data demonstrate that each of the major constituents of Sativex alone can achieve analgesic effects against cisplatin neuropathy.”
“Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women.
Cannabinoid receptor 2 (CNR2 or CB2) is an integral part of the endocannabinoid system.
Although CNR2 is highly expressed in the breast cancer tissues as well as breast cancer cell lines, its functional role in breast tumorigenesis is not well understood.
We observed that estrogen receptor-α negative (ERα-) breast cancer cells highly express epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) as well as insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR). We also observed IGF-IR upregulation in ERα+ breast cancer cells.
In addition, we found that higher CNR2 expression correlates with better recurrence free survival in ERα- and ERα+ breast cancer patients.
Our studies showed that CNR2 activation inhibited EGF and IGF-I-induced migration and invasion of ERα+ and ERα- breast cancer cells.
In conclusion, we show that CNR2 activation suppresses breast cancer through novel mechanisms by inhibiting EGF/EGFR and IGF-I/IGF-IR signaling axes.”
“Some of cannabinoids, which are chemical compounds contained in marijuana, are immunosuppressive.
One of the receptors, CB receptor 1 (CB1), is expressed predominantly by the cells in the central nervous system, whereas CB receptor 2 (CB2) is expressed primarily by immune cells.
Theoretically, selective CB2 agonists should be devoid of psychoactive effects.
In this study, we investigated therapeutic effects of a selective CB2 agonist on arthritis.
The present study suggests that a selective CB2 agonist could be a new therapy for RA that inhibits production of inflammatory mediators from FLS, and osteoclastogenesis.
This is the first report of therapeutic effect of a selective CB2 agonist on CIA.
Although the effect was mild, optimization of dosage and/or treatment protocol might enhance the effect.
Perhaps, more potent selective CB2agonists might solve this problem.
Cannabinoids are pharmacologically active components of Cannabis sativa.”
“Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by joint inflammation and cartilage destruction.
In this study we assessed the ability of WIN to modulate cytokine and MMP-3 production in SFs over a wide concentration range and identified specific receptor targets that mediate the effects of this synthetic cannabinoid.
The synthetic cannabinoid WIN in low concentrations exhibits anti-inflammatory effects in synovial fibroblasts independent of CB1 and CB2 while CB2 and yet unidentified receptor targets are responsible for WIN effects in micromolar concentrations.
Our results indicate a TRPV1/TRPA1 dependent mechanism of SF regulation that might be coupled to cellular energy status and calcium content.
In this report we demonstrated anti-inflammatory effects of the synthetic cannabinoid WIN in low and high concentrations.
Furthermore, this study demonstrated anti-inflammatory effects via modulation of TRP channels by WIN. Together, inactivation of TRPs and activation of cannabinoid receptors might also reduce the sensation of pain, which further underlines the potential of WIN in the treatment of chronic inflammation.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4858820/