“To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies in order to estimate the effect of US medical marijuana laws (MMLs) on past-month marijuana use prevalence among adolescents.
Tag Archives: cannabis
Cannabidiol Regulates Long Term Potentiation Following Status Epilepticus: Mediation by Calcium Stores and Serotonin.
“Epilepsy is a devastating disease, with cognitive and emotional consequences that are not curable.
In recent years, it became apparent that cannabinoids help patients to cope with epilepsy.
We have studied the effects of cannabidiol (CBD) on the ability to produce long term potentiation (LTP) in stratum radiatum of CA1 region of the mouse hippocampus.
Exposure to seizure-producing pilocarpine reduced the ability to generate LTP in the slice.
Pre-exposure to CBD prevented this effect of pilocarpine.
Furthermore, CBD caused a marked increase in ability to generate LTP, an effect that was blocked by calcium store antagonists as well as by a reduction in serotonin tone. Serotonin, possibly acting at a 5HT1A receptor, or fenfluramine (FFA), which causes release of serotonin from its native terminals, mimicked the effect of CBD.
It is proposed that CBD enhances non-NMDA LTP in the slice by facilitating release of serotonin from terminals, consequently ameliorating the detrimental effects of pilocarpine.”
Time-dependent effect of phytocannabinoid treatments in fat cells.
“The objectives of this paper is to investigate, demonstrate, and compare the mechanism of action of phytocannabinoids as antidiabetic and anti-obesity agents in preadipocytes and adipocytes, relative to rosiglitazone and metformin. Briefly, cannabis extract, Δ9 -tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol (in very low dosages) were shown to promote glucose uptake higher or to equivalent levels, reduce fat accumulation, and reverse the insulin-resistant state of 3T3-L1 cells more effectively, relative to rosiglitazone and metformin. The phytocannabinoids had a more pronounced effect in preadipocytes undifferentiated model rather than the differentiated model. They induced a protective effect at the mitochondrial level by preventing overactivity of the succinate dehydrogenase pathway (p < .01), unlike rosiglitazone, through activation of the glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase shuttling system. An increase in oxygen consumption and an increased expression of beta to alpha adrenoceptors (p < .05) in treated cells were noted. These findings contribute toward understanding the mechanism of action of phytocannabinoids in fat cells and highlight the antidiabetic and anti-obesity properties of various phytocannabinoids that could potentially support the treatment of obesity-related insulin resistance.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29464872]]>
Impact of co-administration of oxycodone and smoked cannabis on analgesia and abuse liability.
“Cannabinoids combined with opioids produce synergistic antinociceptive effects, decreasing the lowest effective antinociceptive opioid dose (i.e., opioid-sparing effects) in laboratory animals.
Although pain patients report greater analgesia when cannabis is used with opioids, no placebo-controlled studies have assessed the direct effects of opioids combined with cannabis in humans or the impact of the combination on abuse liability.
This double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject study determined if cannabis enhances the analgesic effects of low dose oxycodone using a validated experimental model of pain and its effects on abuse liability.
Cannabis enhances the analgesic effects of sub-threshold oxycodone, suggesting synergy, without increases in cannabis’s abuse liability. These findings support future research into the therapeutic use of opioid-cannabinoid combinations for pain.”
“Cannabis is a widely used drug in the United States, and the frequency of cannabis use in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–infected population is disproportionately high. Previous human and macaque studies suggest that cannabis may have an impact on plasma viral load; however, the relationship between cannabis use and HIV-associated systemic inflammation and immune activation has not been well defined.
