“The purpose of this study was to determine whether sex differences in the development of antinociceptive tolerance to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are due to activational effects of gonadal hormones…
These results suggest that greater antinociceptive tolerance in females, which occurred despite females receiving 40% less THC than males, is not due to activational effects of gonadal hormones.”
“Inflammation is an important pathogenic factor in Parkinson’s disease (PD), so that it can contribute to kill dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra and to enhance the dopaminergic denervation of the striatum.
The cannabinoid type-2 (CB2) receptor has been investigated as a potential anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective target in different neurodegenerative disorders, but still limited evidence has been collected in PD.
Here, we show for the first time that CB2 receptors are elevated in microglial cells recruited and activated at lesioned sites in the substantia nigra of PD patients compared to control subjects.
Using this experimental model, we recently described a much more intense deterioration of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-containing nigral neurons in CB2 receptor-deficient mice compared to wild-type animals, supporting a potential neuroprotective role for this receptor. In the present study, we further explored this issue…
In conclusion, we have provided the first evidence on the up-regulation of CB2receptors in glial elements in postmortem tissues of PD patients, which has been confirmed in an inflammatory model of this disease. In addition, we have provided evidence on the benefits derived from their activation in relation with the activation of microglial cells, the infiltration of macrophages and also certain capability of these cells to generate proinflammatory factors.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25863279
http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/parkinsons-disease/
“Patients suffering from chronic pain are often also diagnosed with a psychiatric condition, in particular generalized anxiety and major depression. The underlying pathomechanisms contributing to this comorbidity, however, are not entirely clear.
In this manuscript we have focussed on the potential role of the cannabinoid receptor CB1, because it is known to modulate neuronal circuits contributing to chronic pain states and affective behaviours.
For this purpose we analysed the consequences of a partial sciatic nerve ligation on anxiety- and depression related behaviours in mice lacking CB1 receptors.
Our results show that the development of mechanical hypersensitivity was similar in CB1 deficient mice and wild type controls. However, CB1 knockouts showed much more pronounced behavioural manifestations of anxiety-related behaviors in the light-dark and zero-maze tests, sucrose anhedonia, and disturbed home-cage activity.
These results indicate that the endocannabinoid system affects chronic pain-induced mood changes through CB1 receptors.”
“The endocannabinoids (eCBs), N-arachidonoylethanolamine (anandamide, AEA) and 2-ararchidonylglycerol (2-AG) have been identified as main endogenous ligands for cannabinoid receptors.
Developing a sensitive and robust method to determine AEA and 2-AG has been shown to be essential to understand their effects in stress regulation and the pathogenesis of affective disorders.
Detection was performed in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode with an electrospray ionization source operated in positive ion mode. The method was applied to assess plasma and brain eCBs in tumor-bearing mice.”
“Multiple drug resistance (MDR) is one of the principal causes of chemotherapeutic treatment failure in malignant disease…
Cannabinoids are used therapeutically for the palliation of the adverse side effects associated with cancer chemotherapy. However, cannabinoids also inhibit both the activity and expression of the multidrug transporter…
Cannabinoids are novel Abcg2/ABCG2 inhibitors, reversing the Abcg2-mediated multidrug-resistant phenotype in vitro. This finding may have implications for the co-administration of cannabinoids with pharmaceuticals that are ABCG2 substrates…
Cannabis and cannabinoid preparations are used as therapeutic agents.
One of the many applications of cannabinoids is in the palliation of cancer chemotherapy-induced nausea, vomiting and anorexia. Indeed, the commercial preparations, Marinol and Cesamet, containing the synthetic Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) analogue, dronabinol (or nabilone), are approved in some countries for this use.
Interestingly, in the future, cannabinoids might be co-administered with conventional cancer chemotherapies not only in a palliative capacity but also as primary anticancer medications. Accordingly, cannabinoids have demonstrated antiproliferative actions on cancer cells in vitro and in vivo…
To conclude, this is the first study to address the interaction of cannabinoids with the multidrug transporter ABCG2/Abcg2. The results presented here indicate that plant-derived cannabinoids are a novel class of ABCG2/Abcg2 inhibitors. Our results may have important implications for the use of cannabinoid compounds with therapeutic drugs that are substrates for ABCG2.”
“Several lines of evidence have shown that the endogenous cannabinoids are implicated in several neuropsychiatric diseases. Notably, preclinical and human clinical studies have shown a pivotal role of the cannabinoid system in nicotine addiction.
The CB1 receptor inverse agonist/antagonist rimonabant (also known as SR141716) was effective to decrease nicotine-taking and nicotine-seeking in rodents, as well as the elevation of dopamine induced by nicotine in brain reward area. Rimonabant has been shown to improve the ability of smokers to quit smoking in randomized clinical trials. However, rimonabant was removed from the market due to increased risk of psychiatric side-effects observed in humans.
Recently, other components of the endogenous cannabinoid system have been explored. Here, we present the recent advances on the understanding of the role of the different components of the cannabinoid system on nicotine’s effects.
Those recent findings suggest possible alternative ways of modulating the cannabinoid system that could have implication for nicotine dependence treatment.”
“Many studies have demonstrated that the endocannabinoid system (ECS) is altered in different tumor types, including colon cancer.
However, little is known about the role of the ECS in tumor progression.
Here we report the correlation between CB 2 expression and pathological data in a series of 175 colorectal cancer patients, as well as the response of the HT29 colon cancer-derived cell line upon CB 2 activation…
These results raise the question whether the activation of CB 2 should be considered as anti-tumoral therapy.”
“Sativex® is an oromucosal spray, containing equivalent amounts of Δ9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9 -THC) and cannabidiol (CBD)-botanical drug substance (BDS), and which has been approved for the treatment of spasticity and pain associated to multiple sclerosis (MS).
In this study, we investigated whether Sativex® may also serve as a disease-modifying agent in the Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus induced demyelinating disease model of MS…
The data support the therapeutic potential of Sativex® to slow MS progression and its relevance in CNS repair.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25857324
http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/multiple-sclerosis-ms/
“Developing a solid evidence base regarding the health effects of cannabis is imperative given the momentum for legalization and the demand for sound regulatory practices.”
“Pharmacological activation of cannabinoid receptors elicits antitumoral responses in different cancer models. However, the biological role of these receptors in tumor physio-pathology is still unknown…
Our findings reveal an unprecedented role of CB2 as a pivotal regulator of HER2 pro-oncogenic signaling in breast cancer, and they suggest that CB2 may be a biomarker with prognostic value in these tumors.”