

“In the adult mammalian brain, new neurons are born throughout life, and these new cells may influence learning, memory, olfaction, and even mood. The putative function of these new neurons suggests that manipulation of adult neurogenesis could be used therapeutically in the future, and emphasizes the importance of understanding how neurogenesis is regulated. Voluntary exercise and antidepressants are examples of factors that increase neurogenesis, while stress and drugs of abuse – alcohol, nicotine, psychostimulants, opiates – decrease neurogenesis. In contrast to the clear negative influence of these drugs of abuse, cannabinoids have mixed influence, with some marijuana-like compounds actually enhancing neurogenesis.” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264424221_Regulation_of_Adult_Neurogenesis_by_Cannabinoids
“Cannabis contains ≈80 different cannabinoids, including the psychoactive component Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, and nonpsychoactive components, which include cannabidiol, cannabinol, and cannabigerol. In those components, cannabidiol, a nonpsychoactive constituent of cannabis, was found to be an anticonvulsant in animal models of epilepsy and in humans with epilepsy. Moreover, cannabidiol has been shown to have antispasmodic, anxiolytic, antinausea, and antirheumatoid arthritic properties. In addition, cannabidiol has been shown to be protective against global and focal ischemic injury. Cannabidiol has been reported to be a neuroprotectant, but the neuroprotective mechanism of cannabidiol remains unclear. We studied the neuroprotective mechanism of cannabidiol in 4-hour middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion mice. Cannabidiol significantly reduced the infarct volume induced by MCA occlusion in a bell-shaped curve. Similarly, abnormal cannabidiol but not anandamide or methanandamide reduced the infarct volume. Cannabidiol and abnormal cannabidiol reduced the infarct volume. These results suggested that the neuroprotective effect of cannabidiol may be related to the increase in CBF through the serotonergic 5-HT1A receptor.” http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/36/5/1071 http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/stroke-2/]]>
“The network of cells and soluble mediators implicated in the pathogenesis of asthma and allergic disorders is complex. Deciphering details of the crosstalk between its components is essential for the identification of novel drug targets and for advances in patient management and precision medicine. There is increasing evidence that innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) contribute to allergic responses.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28226397 http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/asthma/]]>
“Over the past five years, the lay press and families of children with catastrophic epilepsies popularized the use of cannabis and cannabinoids to treat seizures. Many state legislatures have responded to the pressure from lay groups and have legalized medical cannabis, which is now available to a majority of people in the United States. Patients throughout the world are also obtaining and using cannabinoids to treat their epilepsy. There is an enormous dissociation between the widespread use of cannabis-based therapies to treat diverse epilepsies and our understanding about the efficacy and safety of different cannabinoids in treating different epilepsy syndromes.” http://www.epilepsybehavior.com/article/S1525-5050(17)30042-2/abstract http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/epilepsy-2/]]>
“The development of exaggerated avoidance behavior is largely responsible for the decreased quality of life in patients suffering from anxiety disorders. Studies using animal models have contributed to the understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the acquisition of avoidance responses. However, much less is known about its extinction. Here we provide evidence in mice that learning about the safety of an environment (i.e., safety learning) rather than repeated execution of the avoided response in absence of negative consequences (i.e., response extinction) allowed the animals to overcome their avoidance behavior in a step-down avoidance task. This process was context-dependent and could be blocked by pharmacological (3 mg/kg, s.c.; SR141716) or genetic (lack of cannabinoid CB1 receptors in neurons expressing dopamine D1 receptors) inactivation of CB1 receptors. In turn, the endocannabinoid reuptake inhibitor AM404 (3 mg/kg, i.p.) facilitated safety learning in a CB1-dependent manner and attenuated the relapse of avoidance behavior 28 days after conditioning. Safety learning crucially depended on endocannabinoid signaling at level of the hippocampus, since intrahippocampal SR141716 treatment impaired, whereas AM404 facilitated safety learning. Other than AM404, treatment with diazepam (1 mg/kg, i.p.) impaired safety learning. Drug effects on behavior were directly mirrored by drug effects on evoked activity propagation through the hippocampal trisynaptic circuit in brain slices: As revealed by voltage-sensitive dye imaging, diazepam impaired whereas AM404 facilitated activity propagation to CA1 in a CB1-dependent manner. In line with this, systemic AM404 enhanced safety learning-induced expression of Egr1 at level of CA1. Together, our data render it likely that AM404 promotes safety learning by enhancing information flow through the trisynaptic circuit to CA1.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28222356]]>
“In different models of paralytic ileus, cannabinoid receptors are overexpressed and endogenous cannabinoids are massively released, contributing to gastrointestinal dysmotility. The antitumoral drug vincristine depresses gastrointestinal motility and a similar mechanism could participate in this effect. Therefore, our aim was to determine, using CB1 and CB2 antagonists, whether an increased endocannabinoid tone is involved in vincristine-induced gastrointestinal ileus.
Key results: Vincristine induced damage to the mucosa of ileum and colon and reduced gastrointestinal motor function at 0.5 mg/kg. The effect on motor function was particularly evident when the study started 24 h after administration. AM251, but not AM630, significantly prevented vincristine effect, particularly in the small intestine, when administered thrice. AM251 alone did not significantly alter gastrointestinal motility.
Conclusions: The fact that AM251, but not AM630, is capable of reducing the effect of vincristine suggests that, like in other experimental models of paralytic ileus, an increased cannabinoid tone develops and is at least partially responsible for the alterations induced by the antitumoral drug on gastrointestinal motor function. Thus, CB1 antagonists might be useful to prevent/treat ileus induced by vincristine.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28220074
“Paralytic ileus: Obstruction of the intestine due to paralysis of the intestinal muscles.” http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7886
“The human gut is a composite anaerobic environment with a large, diverse and dynamic enteric microbiota, represented by more than 100 trillion microorganisms, including at least 1000 distinct species. The discovery that a different microbial composition can influence behavior and cognition, and in turn the nervous system can indirectly influence enteric microbiota composition, has significantly contributed to establish the well-accepted concept of gut-brain axis. This hypothesis is supported by several evidence showing mutual mechanisms, which involve the vague nerve, the immune system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis modulation and the bacteria-derived metabolites. Many studies have focused on delineating a role for this axis in health and disease, ranging from stress-related disorders such as depression, anxiety and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism, and to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson Disease, Alzheimer Disease etc. Based on this background, and considering the relevance of alteration of the symbiotic state between host and microbiota, this review focuses on the role and the involvement of bioactive lipids, such as the N-acylethanolamine (NAE) family whose main members are N-arachidonoylethanolamine (AEA), palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) and oleoilethanolamide (OEA), and short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), such as butyrate, belonging to a large group of bioactive lipids able to modulate peripheral and central pathologic processes. It is well established their effective role in inflammation, acute and chronic pain, obesity and central nervous system diseases. It has been shown a possible correlation between these lipids and gut microbiota through different mechanisms. Indeed, systemic administration of specific bacteria can reduce abdominal pain through the involvement of cannabinoid receptor 1 in rat; on the other hand, PEA reduces inflammation markers in a murine model of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and butyrate, producted by gut microbiota, is effective in reducing inflammation and pain in irritable bowel syndrome and IBD animal models. In this review, we underline the relationship among inflammation, pain, microbiota and the different lipids, focusing on a possible involvement of NAEs and SCFAs in the gut-brain axis and their role in central nervous system diseases.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28215162]]>
“Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, and is the most common type of dementia in the elderly population. Growing evidence indicates that microRNAs (miRNAs) play a crucial role in neuroinflammation associated with AD progression. In this study, we analyzed the expression of microRNA-139 (miR-139) as well as the learning and memory function in AD. We observed that the miR-139 expression was significantly higher in the hippocampus of aged senescence accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) mice (2.92 ± 0.13) than in the control mice (1.49 ± 0.08). Likewise, the overexpression of miR-139 by means of hippocampal injection impaired the hippocampus-dependent learning and memory formation. In contrast, the downregulation of miR-139 in mice improved learning and memory function in the mice. The level of cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2), a potential target gene of miR-139, was inversely correlated with the miR-139 expression in primary hippocampal cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated that miR-139 inversely modulated the responses to proinflammatory stimuli. Together, our findings demonstrate that miR-139 exerts a pathogenic effect in AD by modulating CB2-meditated neuroinflammatory processes.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28218780