Tag Archives: cannabis

Cannabis May Cut Alzheimer’s Risk – Discovery News

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“For those who have inhaled, there may be some good news: Marijuana use may cut the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by reducing inflammation in the brain…

The findings may explain studies showing those who regularly used marijuana in the 1960s and 1970s are now less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than their non-smoking contemporaries.

Under a National Institutes of Health grant, researchers used a synthetic drug similar to marijuana to treat rats with brain inflammation typically associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a form of dementia that afflicts 4.5 million people in the United States alone.”

Read more: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/10/19/marijuana_hea.html

Marijuana Ingredient May Help Alzheimer’s – WebMD

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“Chemical Counters Brain Problems in Alzheimer’s Disease, Says Spanish Study.
New clues about Alzheimer’s disease have emerged from a Spanish study of marijuana. The drug’s active ingredients — cannabinoids — help prevent brain problems seen in Alzheimer’s, say the scientists.

The findings showed that “cannabinoids work both to prevent inflammation and to protect the brain,” says researcher Maria de Ceballos in a news release. That “may set the stage for [cannabinoids’] use as a therapeutic approach for [Alzheimer’s disease].”

The cannabinoids completely prevented activation of cells that trigger inflammation. These cells gather near plaque and are believed to be involved in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

“Our results indicate that cannabinoid receptors are important in the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease and that cannabinoids succeed in preventing the neurodegenerative process occurring in the disease,” write the researchers in the journal.”

Read more: http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20050223/marijuana-ingredient-may-help-alzheimers

Marijuana May Slow Alzheimer’s – WebMD

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“Key Marijuana Compound Beats Current Alzheimer’s Drugs in Test-Tube Study.
THC, the key compound in marijuana, may also be the key to new drugs for Alzheimer’s disease.”While we are certainly not advocating the use of illegal drugs, these findings offer convincing evidence that THC possesses remarkable inhibitory qualities, especially when compared to [Alzheimer’s drugs] currently available to patients,” Janda says in a news release.

“Although our study is far from final, it does show that there is a previously unrecognized molecular mechanism through which THC may directly affect the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.”

“THC and its analogs may provide an improved [treatment for] both the symptoms and progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” the researchers conclude”

Read more: http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20061006/marijuana-may-slow-alzheimers

Marijuana may help stave off Alzheimer’s – NBCNews

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“Active ingredient in pot may help preserve brain function.

Good news for aging hippies: smoking pot may stave off Alzheimer’s disease.

New research shows that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the formation of deposits in the brain associated with the degenerative disease.

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California found that marijuana’s active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, can prevent an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase from accelerating the formation of “Alzheimer plaques” in the brain more effectively than commercially marketed drugs.

THC is also more effective at blocking clumps of protein that can inhibit memory and cognition in Alzheimer’s patients, the researchers reported in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.

The researchers said their discovery could lead to more effective drug treatment for Alzheimer’s, the leading cause of dementia among the elderly.

Those afflicted with Alzheimer’s suffer from memory loss, impaired decision-making, and diminished language and movement skills. The ultimate cause of the disease is unknown, though it is believed to be hereditary.

Marijuana is used to relieve glaucoma and can help reduce side effects from cancer and AIDS treatment.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15145917/ns/health-alzheimers_disease/t/marijuana-may-help-stave-alzheimers/

Marijuana May Slow Alzheimer’s – CBSNews

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“THC, the key compound in marijuana, may also be the key to new drugs for Alzheimer’s disease. That’s because the marijuana compound blocks the formation of brain-clogging Alzheimer’s plaques better than current Alzheimer’s drugs….
 these findings offer convincing evidence that THC possesses remarkable inhibitory qualities, especially when compared to [Alzheimer’s drugs] currently available to patients,” Janda says in a news release.

“Although our study is far from final, it does show that there is a previously unrecognized molecular mechanism through which THC may directly affect the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Janda’s team found that THC blocks an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase, which speeds the formation of amyloid plaque in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

The Alzheimer’s drugs Aricept and Cognex work by blocking acetylcholinesterase. When tested at double the concentration of THC, Aricept blocked plaque formation only 22 percent as well as THC, and Cognex blocked plaque formation only 7 percent as well as THC.

“THC and its analogs may provide an improved [treatment for] both the symptoms and progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” the researchers conclude.”

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500368_162-2072101.html

Marijuana Ingredient May Help Alzheimer’s – FoxNews

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“New clues about Alzheimer’s disease have emerged from a Spanish study of marijuana. The drug’s active ingredients — cannabinoids — help prevent brain problems seen in Alzheimer’s, say the scientists. 

The new study didn’t test cannabinoids on people living with Alzheimer’s disease. Instead, the researchers focused on human brain tissue samples and conducted cannabinoid experiments on rats. 

The findings showed that “cannabinoids work both to prevent inflammation and to protect the brain,” says researcher Maria de Ceballos in a news release. That “may set the stage for [cannabinoids’] use as a therapeutic approach for [Alzheimer’s disease].””

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,148518,00.html

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,148518,00.html#ixzz2HIrp1uDH

Marijuana May Slow Alzheimer’s Memory Loss

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“New evidence from animal models suggests marijuana may contain compounds that slow the memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Older rats treated with a synthetic chemical similar to marijuana significantly improved their ability to navigate a maze. Researchers believe the strong anti-inflammatory effects of marijuana slow Alzheimer’s progression.”

marijuanaleaves

“The link between chronic inflammation and the progression of Alzheimer’s is compelling, said Gary Wenk, a study co-author and a professor of psychology at Ohio State University.

“Inflammation in the brain is part of aging,” Wenk said. “It happens to almost all of us as we age. But in some cases, this inflammation gets out of hand and causes serious damage.”

Treatment with a synthetic compound similar to marijuana reduced inflammation in older rats in addition to making the animals “smarter,” said Wenk, who is also a professor of neuroscience and molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics.

“The compound substantially improved the memories of the older rats,” he said. “These animals were able to hold on to key details of a specific task. Untreated older rats, on the other hand, were not.”

The researchers presented their findings at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting.

Evidence suggests that people who regularly smoked marijuana in the 1960s and 1970s rarely develop Alzheimer’s disease, said Wenk, adding that researchers are eager to develop a drug with the anti-inflammatory properties of marijuana, but without the drug’s psychoactive effects.”

Read more: http://psychcentral.com/news/2006/10/23/marijuana-may-slow-alzheimers-memory-loss/350.html

Hope for cannabis-based drug for Alzheimer’s

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“A compound derived from marijuana might one day help fight the memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a new study suggests.

“Researchers have shown that a synthetic drug similar to cannabis can help older rats perform better on a spatial memory task.

Over a period of three weeks, Gary Wenk at Ohio State University in Columbus, US, and colleagues injected the brains of young and old rats with an inflammatory molecule that created an immune response in the animals’ brains which mimics that seen in Alzheimer’s patients.

During the same period the researchers also injected some of the rats with a synthetic drug similar to cannabis, called WIN-55212-2, which stimulates the brain receptors that normally respond to cannabis compounds.

The rats that received WIN-55212-2 in both age groups found the platform faster than their control counterparts. However, the difference between the treated and untreated animals’ performance was greatest among the older rats. The brains of rats receiving the synthetic drug also showed less sign of inflammation.

The results are impressive particularly because of the low dose of drug used in the experiment, comments Ken Mackie at the University of Washington in Seattle, US, who was not involved in the study.

“They gave them a relatively low dose, even for a rat.” Mackie says that this aspect of the study makes the prospect of developing a similar treatment for humans with Alzheimer’s disease “more promising”.

Wenk cautions, however, that WIN-55212-2 still causes psychoactive effects similar to cannabis, and as such is not yet a candidate for human use. Researchers are currently trying to develop a similar drug that could control inflammation in the brain without a concomitant high.”

Read more: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10330-hope-for-cannabisbased-drug-for-alzheimers.html

Scientists are high on idea that marijuana reduces memory impairment

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“The more research they do, the more evidence Ohio State University scientists find that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation there and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells.

The research suggests that the development of a legal drug that contains certain properties similar to those in marijuana might help prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Though the exact cause of Alzheimer’s remains unknown, chronic inflammation in the brain is believed to contribute to memory impairment.

Any new drug’s properties would resemble those of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main psychoactive substance in the cannabis plant, but would not share its high-producing effects.

.”Could people smoke marijuana to prevent Alzheimer’s disease if the disease is in their family? We’re not saying that, but it might actually work. What we are saying is it appears that a safe, legal substance that mimics those important properties of marijuana can work on receptors in the brain to prevent memory impairments in aging. So that’s really hopeful,” Wenk said”

Read more: http://phys.org/news146320102.html