Cannabidiol reduces intestinal inflammation through the control of neuroimmune axis.

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“Enteric glial cells (EGC) actively mediate acute and chronic inflammation in the gut; EGC proliferate and release neurotrophins, growth factors, and pro-inflammatory cytokines which, in turn, may amplify the immune response, representing a very important link between the nervous and immune systems in the intestine.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is an interesting compound because of its ability to control reactive gliosis in the CNS, without any unwanted psychotropic effects.

Therefore the rationale of our study was to investigate the effect of CBD on intestinal biopsies from patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and from intestinal segments of mice with LPS-induced intestinal inflammation.

Our results therefore indicate that CBD indeed unravels a new therapeutic strategy to treat inflammatory bowel diseases.

The results of the present study correlate and expand the findings suggesting CBD as a potent compound that is able to modulate experimental gut inflammation.

In this study we demonstrate that during intestinal inflammation, CBD is able to control the inflammatory scenario and the subsequent intestinal apoptosis through the restoration of the altered glia-immune homeostasis.

CBD is therefore regarded as a promising therapeutic agent that modulates the neuro-immune axis, which can be recognised as a new target in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disorders.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3232190/

Cortical and spinal excitability in patients with multiple sclerosis and spasticity after oromucosal cannabinoid spray.

 

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“Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol (THC:CBD) oromucosal spray (Sativex®) has been recently approved for the management of treatment-resistant multiple sclerosis (MS) spasticity.

Although the symptomatic relief of Sativex® on MS-spasticity has been consistently demonstrated, the pathogenetic implications remain unclear and the few electrophysiological studies performed to address this topic yielded controversial results.

We therefore aimed to investigate the mechanisms underpinning the modulation of spastic hypertonia by Sativex®, at both central and spinal levels, through an extensive neurophysiological battery in patients with MS.

Our results confirm the clinical benefit of Sativex® on spastic hypertonia and demonstrate that it might modulate both cortical and spinal circuits, arguably in terms of both excitation and inhibition.

We suggest that the clinical benefit was likely related to a net increase of inhibition at cortical level that, in turn, might have influenced spinal excitability.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27772772

Effectiveness of Cannabidiol Oil for Pediatric Anxiety and Insomnia as Part of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Case Report.

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“Anxiety and sleep disorders are often the result of posttraumatic stress disorder and can contribute to an impaired ability to focus and to demonstration of oppositional behaviors.

CASE PRESENTATION:

These symptoms were present in our patient, a ten-year-old girl who was sexually abused and had minimal parental supervision as a young child under the age of five. Pharmaceutical medications provided partial relief, but results were not long-lasting, and there were major side effects. A trial of cannabidiol oil resulted in a maintained decrease in anxiety and a steady improvement in the quality and quantity of the patient’s sleep.

DISCUSSION:

Cannabidiol oil, an increasingly popular treatment of anxiety and sleep issues, has been documented as being an effective alternative to pharmaceutical medications. This case study provides clinical data that support the use of cannabidiol oil as a safe treatment for reducing anxiety and improving sleep in a young girl with posttraumatic stress disorder.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27768570

Experimental cannabidiol treatment reduces early pancreatic inflammation in type 1 diabetes.

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“Destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells in type 1 diabetes (T1D) is induced by invasion of immune cells causing pancreatic inflammation.

Cannabidiol (CBD), a phytocannabinoid, derived from the plant, Cannabis sativa, was shown to lower the incidence of diabetes in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice, an animal model of spontaneous T1D development.

The goal of this study was to investigate the impact of experimental CBD treatment on early pancreatic inflammation in T1D by intravital microscopy (IVM) in NOD mice.

CBD-treated NOD mice developed T1D later and showed significantly reduced leukocyte activation and increased FCD in the pancreatic microcirculation.

Experimental CBD treatment reduced markers of inflammation in the microcirculation of the pancreas studied by intravital microscopy.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27767974

The effects of cannabidiol and its synergism with bortezomib in multiple myeloma cell lines. A role for transient receptor potential vanilloid type-2.

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“Multiple myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell (PC) malignancy characterised by the accumulation of a monoclonal PC population in the bone marrow (BM).

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid with antitumoural activities, and the transient receptor potential vanilloid type-2 (TRPV2) channel has been reported as a potential CBD receptor.

TRPV2 activation by CBD decreases proliferation and increases susceptibility to drug-induced cell death in human cancer cells.

However, no functional role has been ascribed to CBD and TRPV2 in MM. In this study, we identified the presence of heterogeneous CD138+TRPV2+ and CD138+TRPV2- PC populations in MM patients, whereas only the CD138+ TRPV2- population was present in RPMI8226 and U266 MM cell lines.

Because bortezomib (BORT) is commonly used in MM treatment, we investigated the effects of CBD and BORT in CD138+TRPV2- MM cells and in MM cell lines transfected with TRPV2 (CD138+TRPV2+).

These results showed that CBD by itself or in synergy with BORT strongly inhibited growth, arrested cell cycle progression and induced MM cells death by regulating the ERK, AKT and NF-κB pathways with major effects in TRPV2+ cells.

These data provide a rationale for using CBD to increase the activity of proteasome inhibitors in MM.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24293211

Cannabinoids synergize with carfilzomib, reducing multiple myeloma cells viability and migration.

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“Several studies showed a potential anti-tumor role for cannabinoids, by modulating cell signaling pathways involved in cancer cell proliferation, chemo-resistance and migration.

Cannabidiol (CBD) was previously noted in multiple myeloma (MM), both alone and in synergy with the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib, to induce cell death.

In other type of human cancers, the combination of CBD with Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was found to act synergistically with other chemotherapeutic drugs suggesting their use in combination therapy.

In the current study, we evaluated the effects of THC alone and in combination with CBD in MM cell lines.

We found that CBD and THC, mainly in combination, were able to reduce cell viability by inducing autophagic-dependent necrosis.

Moreover, we showed that the CBD-THC combination was able to reduce MM cells migration by down-regulating expression of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 and of the CD147 plasma membrane glycoprotein.

Furthermore, since the immuno-proteasome is considered a new target in MM and also since carfilzomib (CFZ) is a new promising immuno-proteasome inhibitor that creates irreversible adducts with the β5i subunit of immuno-proteasome, we evaluated the effect of CBD and THC in regulating the expression of the β5i subunit and their effect in combination with CFZ.

Herein, we also found that the CBD and THC combination is able to reduce expression of the β5i subunit as well as to act in synergy with CFZ to increase MM cell death and inhibits cell migration.

In summary, these results proved that this combination exerts strong anti-myeloma activities.”

An Orally Active Cannabis Extract with High Content in Cannabidiol attenuates Chemically-induced Intestinal Inflammation and Hypermotility in the Mouse.

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“Anecdotal and scientific evidence suggests that Cannabis use may be beneficial in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients.

Here, we have investigated the effect of a standardized Cannabis sativa extract with high content of cannabidiol (CBD), here named CBD BDS for “CBD botanical drug substance,” on mucosal inflammation and hypermotility in mouse models of intestinal inflammation.

In conclusion, CBD BDS, given after the inflammatory insult, attenuates injury and motility in intestinal models of inflammation.

These findings sustain the rationale of combining CBD with other minor Cannabis constituents and support the clinical development of CBD BDS for IBD treatment.”

Cannabidiol is a partial agonist at dopamine D2High receptors, predicting its antipsychotic clinical dose.

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“Although all current antipsychotics act by interfering with the action of dopamine at dopamine D2 receptors, two recent reports showed that 800 to 1000 mg of cannabidiol per day alleviated the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia, although cannabidiol is not known to act on dopamine receptors. Because these recent clinical findings may indicate an important exception to the general rule that all antipsychotics interfere with dopamine at dopamine D2 receptors, the present study examined whether cannabidiol acted directly on D2 receptors, using tritiated domperidone to label rat brain striatal D2 receptors. It was found that cannabidiol inhibited the binding of radio-domperidone with dissociation constants of 11 nm at dopamine D2High receptors and 2800 nm at dopamine D2Low receptors, in the same biphasic manner as a dopamine partial agonist antipsychotic drug such as aripiprazole. The clinical doses of cannabidiol are sufficient to occupy the functional D2High sites. it is concluded that the dopamine partial agonist action of cannabidiol may account for its clinical antipsychotic effects.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27754480

Δ9-THC Intoxication by Cannabidiol-Enriched Cannabis Extract in Two Children with Refractory Epilepsy: Full Remission after Switching to Purified Cannabidiol.

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“Animal studies and preliminary clinical trials have shown that cannabidiol (CBD)-enriched extracts may have beneficial effects for children with treatment-resistant epilepsy.

We describe the cases of two children with treatment-resistant epilepsy (Case A with left frontal dysplasia and Case B with Dravet Syndrome) with initial symptom improvement after the introduction of CBD extracts followed by seizure worsening after a short time.

The children presented typical signs of intoxication by Δ9-THC (inappropriate laughter, ataxia, reduced attention, and eye redness) after using a CBD-enriched extract.

The extract was replaced by the same dose of purified CBD with no Δ9-THC in both cases, which led to improvement in intoxication signs and seizure remission.

These cases support pre-clinical and preliminary clinical evidence suggesting that CBD may be effective for some patients with epilepsy.

Moreover, the cases highlight the need for randomized clinical trials using high-quality and reliable substances to ascertain the safety and efficacy of cannabinoids as medicines.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27746737

Cannabidiol Prevents Motor and Cognitive Impairments Induced by Reserpine in Rats.

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“Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychotomimetic compound from Cannabis sativa that presents antipsychotic, anxiolytic, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects.

In Parkinson’s disease patients, CBD is able to attenuate the psychotic symptoms induced by L-DOPA and to improve quality of life.

Repeated administration of reserpine in rodents induces motor impairments that are accompanied by cognitive deficits, and has been applied to model both tardive dyskinesia and Parkinson’s disease.

The present study investigated whether CBD administration would attenuate reserpine-induced motor and cognitive impairments in rats.

Our data show that CBD is able to attenuate motor and cognitive impairments induced by reserpine, suggesting the use of this compound in the pharmacotherapy of Parkinson’s disease and tardive dyskinesia.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27733830