Tag Archives: marijuana

Marijuana nutrients found to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease

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“A study conducted by scientists at Scripps Research Institute in California has found that, contrary to marijuana’s reputation, the ingredients of the drug can actually fight off the memory-impairing effects of Alzheimer’s disease.The researchers found that the active ingredient in marijuana — delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — is responsible for the positive effect, as it can prevent the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine even better than commercially marketed prescription drugs.

The study also showed that THC could completely prevent the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AchE) from forming amyloid plaques, whereas twice as much donepezil and tacrine — the two drugs approved for Alzheimer’s treatment — only reduced such clumping by 22 and 7 percent, respectively, the researchers reported in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics. This led the scientists to conclude that a more effective Alzheimer’s drug could be developed in the future.”

Read more: http://www.naturalnews.com/020667_Marijuana_Alzheimers_drugs.htm

Medical Marijuana as Effective Treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease

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“Regular low dose cannabis smoking might keep Alzheimer’s away, according to marijuana research by professor Gary Wenk and associate professor Yannic Marchalant of the Ohio State Department of Psychology. Wenk’s studies show that a low dosage in the morning of a certain cannabinoid, a component in marijuana, reversed memory loss in older rats’ brains. In his study, an experimental group of old rats received a dosage, and a control group of rats did not. The old rats that received the drugs performed better on memory tests, and the drug slowed and prevented brain cell death.”

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“Alzheimer’s is a disease unique to humans…, but rat brains are similar enough to human brains to serve as partial models for humans, Wenk said.

… marijuana is the first substance that has worked on older brains in experiments.”

 

Read more: http://alzheimers-review.blogspot.com/2009/11/medical-marijuana-as-effective.html

 

Alzheimer’s: Marijuana as Effective Medicine

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“Cannabis is getting much positive publicity and seems to be regaining its popularity of one hundred years ago when it was the most widely used drug for about 100 different diseases. There is a big toodoo nowadays about Alzheimers which has turned into almost an epidemic for old folks with some even in their 50’s. So far nobody seems to have put a handle on it and I won’t either.The latest information seems to be that there are senile plaques in the cerebral cortex and subcortical grey matter but whether these plaques are a cause or effect seems to be up for grabs.

I don’t know either. My Merck manual says that four million Americans have it, mostly those over 60 years old. It is a very expensive disease for nursing homes and nursing care probably at least 100 billion dollars per year.

As a Medical Marijuana doctor, I jumped into this fracas when I heard that a lady spouse of an Alzheimers patient went to a Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee meeting of The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP) and demanded that her husband be given a permit. She was successful and the medical statistics from OMMP indicate that somewhat less than 50 people have Marijuana permits for this disease. It is called Alzheimers Rage.

The above really didn’t surprise me because there are several Central Nervous System (CNS) diseases for which Cannabis/Marijuana (C/MJ) works very well. These include ALS, Epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinsonism, PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs). I don’t know if anyone has figured out why C/MJ works for these conditions but why ask if those suffering say that C/MJ works.

Tod Mikiyuria, the foremost scholar in this area, says that C/MJ works as a modulator which is a term of general meaning which possibly just means that it works.

The standard drugs are almost worthless, many seem to be Cholinergics related to Acetyl Choline, the standard Neuro transmitter nerve cell to cell and nerve cell to muscle. At any rate C/MJ seems to work better than any of the heavily advertised drugs.

Cannabis/Marijuana is simultaneously getting much positive publicity and seems to be regaining its popularity of one hundred years ago when it was the most widely used drug for about 100 different diseases.

Those of us advocates for Medical Marijuana who have suffered scorn and derision for DEVIL WEED causing REEFER MADNESS can finally say

WE TOLD YOU SO!!!” –
 
Dr. Phil Leveque 
 

Marijuana and Alzheimer’s – How Marijuana Outperforms Drugs for Alzheimer’s Disease

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“Marijuana and Alzheimer’s – Alzheimer’s Help without Nasty Drug-Induced Side Effects.”

marijuanaplants 235x147 Marijuana and Alzheimers How Marijuana Outperforms Drugs for Alzheimer’s Disease

“The war on drugs has most people believing there is no legitimate argument for marijuana, causing it to be highly looked down upon and illegal under federal law throughout the United States. But there is an exceptionally large body of research pointing to the positive impact marijuana can have on various health ailments, with recent research revealing a link between marijuana and Alzheimer’s – showing that THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, may be beneficial for Alzheimer’s patients.

As published in the journal Molecular Pharmacology, a Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology study shows that Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) both “competitively inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) as well as prevents AChE-induced amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) aggregation.” In other words, cannabinoid molecules found in cannabis could halt the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Read more by  : http://naturalsociety.com/marijuana-and-alzheimers-outperforms-harmful-drugs/

“A Molecular Link Between the Active Component of Marijuana and Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology” – Free full text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2562334/

Cannabidiol affects the expression of genes involved in zinc homeostasis in BV-2 microglial cells.

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“Cannabidiol (CBD) has been shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and neuroprotective properties. Unlike Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), CBD is devoid of psychotropic effects and has very low affinity for both cannabinoid receptors, CB(1) and CB(2). We have previously reported that CBD and THC have different effects on anti-inflammatory pathways in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated BV-2 microglial cells, in a CB(1)/CB(2) independent manner. Moreover, CBD treatment of BV-2 cells, was found to induce a robust change in the expression of genes related to oxidative stress, glutathione deprivation and inflammation. Many of these genes were shown to be controlled by Nrf2 and ATF4 transcription factors. Using the Illumina MouseRef-8 BeadChip platform, DAVID Bioinformatics and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis, we identified functional sets of genes and networks affected by CBD. A subset of genes was found to be regulated by the metal responsive element (MRE)-binding transcription factor-1 (MTF-1) and is shown to be related to zinc homeostasis. We found that CBD upregulates the expression of the mRNAs for metallothionein 2 (Mt2), N-myc-downstream regulated gene 1 and matrix metalloproteinase 23 as well as of the zinc transporters ZnT1/Slc30a1 and Zip4/Slc39a4 but downregulates the expression of the mRNA for the zinc transporter Zip10/Slc39a10 as well as for the zinc finger protein 472. Among these genes, ZnT1, Mt2 and the zinc transporters ZIPs are known to function together to control the intracellular zinc concentration. These results show that CBD, but much less so THC, affects the expression of genes involved in zinc homeostasis and suggest that the regulation of zinc levels could have an important role through which CBD may exert its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22178458

Cannabidiol as an Emergent Therapeutic Strategy for Lessening the Impact of Inflammation on Oxidative Stress

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Figure 1

“Growing evidence suggests that the endocannabinoid system, which includes the CB1 and CB2 G protein-coupled receptors and their endogenous lipid ligands, may be an area that is ripe for therapeutic exploitation. In this context, the related nonpsychotropic cannabinoid cannabidiol, which may interact with the endocannabinoid system, but has actions that are distinct, offers promise as a prototype for anti-inflammatory drug development.

This review discusses recent studies suggesting that cannabidiol may have utility in treating a number of human diseases and disorders now known to involve activation of the immune system and associated oxidative stress, as a contributor to their etiology and progression. These include rheumatoid arthritis, types I and II diabetes, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, hypertension, the metabolic syndrome, ischemia-reperfusion injury, depression, and neuropathic pain.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is the major nonpsychotropic cannabinoid compound derived from the plant Cannabis sativa, commonly known as marijuana…

Conclusions

Inflammation and oxidative stress are intimately involved in the genesis of many human diseases. Unraveling that relationship therapeutically has proven challenging, in part because inflammation and oxidative stress “feed off” each other. However, CBD would seem to be a promising starting point for further drug development given its anti-oxidant (although relatively modest) and anti-inflammatory actions on immune cells, such as macrophages and microglia. CBD also has the advantage of not having psychotropic side effects. Studies on models of human diseases support the idea that CBD attenuates inflammation far beyond its antioxidant properties, for example, by targeting inflammation-related intracellular signaling events. The details on how CBD targets inflammatory signaling remain to be defined.

The therapeutic utility of CBD is a relatively new area of investigation that portends new discoveries on the interplay between inflammation and oxidative stress, a relationship that underlies tissue and organ damage in many human diseases.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3085542/

Cannabidiol: a promising drug for neurodegenerative disorders?

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“Neurodegenerative diseases represent, nowadays, one of the main causes of death in the industrialized country. They are characterized by a loss of neurons in particular regions of the nervous system. It is believed that this nerve cell loss underlies the subsequent decline in cognitive and motor function that patients experience in these diseases. A range of mutant genes and environmental toxins have been implicated in the cause of neurodegenerative disorders but the mechanism remains largely unknown. At present, inflammation, a common denominator among the diverse list of neurodegenerative diseases, has been implicated as a critical mechanism that is responsible for the progressive nature of neurodegeneration.

Since, at present, there are few therapies for the wide range of neurodegenerative diseases, scientists are still in search of new therapeutic approaches to the problem. An early contribution of neuroprotective and antiinflammatory strategies for these disorders seems particularly desirable because isolated treatments cannot be effective.

 In this contest, marijuana derivatives have attracted special interest, although these compounds have always raised several practical and ethical problems for their potential abuse. Nevertheless, among Cannabis compounds, cannabidiol (CBD), which lacks any unwanted psychotropic effect, may represent a very promising agent with the highest prospect for therapeutic use.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19228180

Israeli Research Shows Cannabidiol May Slow Alzheimer’s Disease

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“An Israeli researcher has found that a non-psychoactive component of cannabis may help slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The initial findings of a study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem show that a non-psychoactive component of cannabis, marijuana, may hold out hope for slowing down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.The research, still at an early stage, indicates that memory loss, the first and primary symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, can be slowed down significantly in mice by cannabidiol. Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, affects some 24.3 million people worldwide.”

Read more: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125564

Cannabinoid CB2 receptors in human brain inflammation.

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“CB2 receptors in neuroinflammatory conditions of the human brain.

“CB2 receptors have been found to be present in the CNS, thus offering new opportunities for the pharmacological use of cannabinoid agents. Furthermore, the fact that their expression is increased by inflammatory stimuli suggests that they may be involved in the pathogenesis and/or in the endogenous response to injury. Data obtained in vitro and in animal models show that CB2 receptors may be part of the general neuroprotective action of the ECS…

The anti-inflammatory effects triggered by the activation of the CB2 receptor make it an attractive target for the development of novel anti-inflammatory therapies.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2219537/

Does Smoking Marijuana Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease?

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“Maintaining Memories with Marijuana. Research in my laboratory has demonstrated that stimulating the brain’s marijuana receptors may offer protection by reducing brain inflammation and by restoring neurogenesis. Thus, later in life, marijuana might actually help your brain, rather than harm it.

It takes very little marijuana to produce benefits in the older brain; my colleague in France, Dr. Yannick Marchalant, coined the motto “a puff is enough” because it appears as though only a single puff each day is necessary to produce significant benefit.

The challenge for pharmacologists in the future will be to isolate the beneficial effects of the marijuana plant from its psychoactive effects.”

http://www.theweedblog.com/does-smoking-marijuana-prevent-alzheimers-disease/