Tag Archives: cannabis

The selective monoacylglycerol lipase inhibitor MJN110 produces opioid sparing effects in a mouse neuropathic pain model.

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“Serious clinical liabilities associated with the prescription of opiates for pain control include constipation, respiratory depression, pruritus, tolerance, abuse, and addiction.

A recognized strategy to circumvent these side effects is to combine opioids with other antinociceptive agents.

The combination of opiates with the primary active constituent of cannabis, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, produces enhanced antinociceptive actions, suggesting that cannabinoid receptor agonists can be opioid sparing…

Here, we tested whether elevating the endogenous cannabinoid 2-arachidonylglycerol (2-AG) through the inhibition of its primary hydrolytic enzyme monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL), will produce opioid sparing effects…

These findings, taken together, suggest that MAGL inhibition produces opiate sparing events with diminished tolerance, constipation, and cannabimemetic side effects.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26791602

http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/pain-2/

The Pharmacological Basis of Cannabis Therapy for Epilepsy.

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“Recently, cannabis has been suggested as a potential alternative therapy for refractory epilepsy, which affects 30% of epilepsy patients including children who do not respond to current medications.

There is a large unmet medical need for new antiepileptics for refractory epilepsy and conditions associated with refractory seizures that would not interfere with normal function.

The two chief cannabinoids are delta-9-tetrahyrdrocannabinol, the major psychoactive component of marijuana, and cannabidiol (CBD), the major non-psychoactive component of marijuana.

There are claims of clinical efficacy of CBD-predominant cannabis or medical marijuana for epilepsy, mostly from limited studies, surveys or case reports.

However, the mechanisms underlying the antiepileptic efficacy of cannabis remain unclear. This article highlights the pharmacological basis of cannabis therapy, with an emphasis on the endocannabinoid mechanisms underlying the emerging neurotherapeutics of CBD in epilepsy.

CBD is anticonvulsant, but it has a low affinity for the cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors; therefore the exact mechanism by which it affects seizures remains poorly understood.

A rigorous clinical evaluation of pharmaceutical CBD products is needed to establish the safety and efficacy for the treatment of epilepsy.

Identification of mechanisms underlying the anticonvulsant efficacy of CBD is additionally critical to identify other potential treatment options.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26787773

http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/early/2016/01/19/jpet.115.230151.long

http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/epilepsy-2/

Medicinal Cannabis: In Vitro Validation of Vaporizers for the Smoke-Free Inhalation of Cannabis.

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“Inhalation by vaporization is a promising application mode for cannabis in medicine.

An in vitro validation of 5 commercial vaporizers was performed with THC-type and CBD-type cannabis.

Temperature-controlled, electrically-driven vaporizers efficiently decarboxylate inactive acidic cannabinoids and reliably release their corresponding neutral, active cannabinoids.

Thus, they offer a promising application mode for the safe and efficient administration of medicinal cannabis.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26784441

The association between cannabis use and anxiety disorders: Results from a population-based representative sample.

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“This study explored the association between cannabis use, cannabis use disorders (CUDs) and anxiety disorders in a 3-year prospective study.

Our findings suggest that cannabis use and CUDs are not associated with increased incidence of most anxiety disorders and inversely, most anxiety disorders are not associated with increased incidence of cannabis use or CUDs.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26775742

Hempseed as a nutritional resource: An overview

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“The seed of Cannabis sativa L. has been an important source of nutrition for thousands of years in Old World cultures. Technically a nut, hempseed typically contains over 30% oil and about 25% protein, with considerable amounts of dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals. Hempseed oil is over 80% in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and is an exceptionally rich source of the two essential fatty acids (EFAs) linoleic acid (18:2 omega-6) and alpha-linolenic acid (18:3 omega-3). The omega-6 to omega-3 ratio (n6/n3) in hempseed oil is normally between 2:1 and 3:1, which is considered to be optimal for human health. Hempseed has been used to treat various disorders for thousands of years in traditional oriental medicine.” http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10681-004-4811-6

The cardiac and haemostatic effects of dietary hempseed

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“Cannabis sativa L. is an annual plant in the Cannabaceae family. It has been an important source of food, fiber, medicine and psychoactive/religious drug since prehistoric times. Hemp has a botanical relationship to drug/medicinal varieties of Cannabis. However, hempseed no longer contains psychotropic action and instead may provide significant health benefits. Hempseed has an excellent content of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. These compounds have beneficial effects on our cardiovascular health.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2868018/

Cannabis use, depression and anxiety: A 3-year prospective population-based study.

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“Whether or not cannabis use may increase the risk for depression and/or anxiety is not clear. For one thing, it has not been possible to draw a definitive conclusion regarding the direction of causality, i.e. whether cannabis use increases the risk for depression/anxiety or vice versa. This study aimed at examining possible associations between cannabis use, depression and anxiety, using all three measures as both exposure and outcome…

CONCLUSIONS:

We found no longitudinal associations between cannabis use and incidence of depression/anxiety, or between depression/anxiety and later cannabis use onset.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26773900

Cannabidiol limits Tcell-mediated chronic autoimmune myocarditis: implications to autoimmune disorders and organ transplantation.

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“Myocarditis is a major cause of heart failure and sudden cardiac death in young adults and adolescents. Many cases of myocarditis are associated with autoimmune processes in which cardiac myosin is a major autoantigen.

Conventional immunosuppressive therapies often provide unsatisfactory results and are associated with adverse toxicities during the treatment of autoimmune myocarditis.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychoactive constituent of Marijuana which exerts antiinflammatory effects independent from classical cannabinoid receptors.

Recently 80 clinical trials have been reported investigating the effects of CBD in various diseases from inflammatory bowel disease to graft-versus-host disease.

CBD-based formulations are used for the management of multiple sclerosis in numerous countries, and CBD also received FDA approval for the treatment of refractory childhood epilepsy and glioblastoma multiforme.

Herein, using a well-established mouse model of experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) induced by immunization with cardiac myosin emmulsified in adjuvant resulting in T cell-mediated inflammation, cardiomyocyte cell death, fibrosis and myocardial dysfunction, we studied the potential beneficial effects of CBD…

CBD may represent a promising novel treatment for management of autoimmune myocarditis and possibly other autoimmune disorders, and organ transplantation.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26772776

Ligands for cannabinoid receptors, promising anticancer agents.

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“Cannabinoid compounds are unique to cannabis and provide some interesting biological properties.

These compounds along with endocannabinoids, a group of neuromodulator compounds in the body especially in brain, express their effects by activation of G-protein-coupled cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2.

There are several physiological properties attributed to the endocannabinoids including pain relief, enhancement of appetite, blood pressure lowering during shock, embryonic development, and blocking of working memory.

On the other hand, activation of endocannabinoid system may be suppresses evolution and progression of several types of cancer.

According to the results of recent studies, CB receptors are over-expressed in cancer cell lines and application of multiple cannabinoid or cannabis-derived compounds reduce tumor size through decrease of cell proliferation or induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis along with desirable effect on decrease of tumor-evoked pain.

Therefore, modulation of endocannabinoid system by inhibition of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), the enzyme, which metabolized endocannabinoids, or application of multiple cannabinoid or cannabis-derived compounds, may be appropriate for the treatment of several cancer subtypes. This review focuses on how cannabinoid affect different types of cancers.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26764235

http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/cancer/

Evaluating Sativex® in Neuropathic Pain Management: A Clinical and Neurophysiological Assessment in Multiple Sclerosis.

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“Pain is a common symptom of MS, affecting up to 70% of patients.

Pain treatment is often unsatisfactory, although emerging drugs (including cannabinoids) are giving encouraging results.

 The aim of our study was to better investigate the role of Sativex® in improving pain in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients by means of either clinical or neurophysiological assessment.

 One month of drug administration in MS patients with neuropathic pain successfully reduced pain rating and improved quality of life.
Our data suggest that Sativex may be effective in improving MS-related neuropathic pain, maybe through its action on specific cortical pathways.”