“Pain associated with integumentary wounds is highly prevalent yet it remains an area of significant unmet need within healthcare. Currently, systemically administered opioids are the mainstay of treatment. However, recent publications are casting opioids in a negative light given their high side effect profile, inhibition of wound healing, and association with accidental overdose, incidents that are frequently fatal. Thus, novel analgesic strategies for wound-related pain need to be investigated. The ideal methods of pain relief for wound patients are modalities that are topical, lack systemic side effects, non-invasive, self-administered, and display rapid onset of analgesia. Extracts derived from the cannabis plant have been applied to wounds for thousands of years. The discovery of the human endocannabinoid system and its dominant presence throughout the integumentary system provides a valid and logical scientific platform to consider the use of topical cannabinoids for wounds. We are reporting a prospective case series of 3 patients with Pyoderma Gangrenosum (PG) that were treated with Topical Medical Cannabis (TMC) compounded in non-genetically modified organic sunflower oil. Clinically significant analgesia that was associated with reduced opioid utilization was noted in all 3 cases. TMC has the potential to improve pain management in patients suffering from wounds of all classes.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28818631 http://www.jpsmjournal.com/article/S0885-3924(17)30351-2/fulltext]]>
Tag Archives: treatment
Use of medical cannabis to reduce pain and improve quality of life in cancer patients.
“Early attention to pain and symptoms in those with cancer improves both quality of life and survival. Opioid medications are the mainstay treatment of cancer-related pain.
Cannabinoids are increasingly used as adjunctive treatments for cancer pain, but clinical evidence supporting their use as an “opioid sparing agent” or to improve quality of life is as yet unknown.
Our study sought to determine if the addition of cannabinoids (medical cannabis) resulted in the reduction of the average opioid dose required for pain control, and improve self-reported quality of life indices.
Patients with cancer pain benefited from the addition of cannabinoids.
The average opioid dose decreased following access to medical cannabis.
Self-reported ratings of several quality of life indicators showed statistically significant improvement.
Our study shows a signal that cannabinoids may reduce cancer patients’ reliance on opioids to control pain.
Further prospective controlled studies are needed to further elucidate the role of cannabinoids in the treatment of cancer pain.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28148191GPR55: A therapeutic target for Parkinson's disease?
“The GPR55 receptor is expressed abundantly in the brain, especially in the striatum, suggesting it might fulfill a role in motor function. Indeed, motor behavior is impaired in mice lacking GPR55, which also display dampened inflammatory responses. Abnormal-cannabidiol (Abn-CBD), a synthetic cannabidiol (CBD) isomer, is a GPR55 agonist that may serve as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. In this study, we explored whether modulating GPR55 could also represent a therapeutic approach for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD). These results demonstrate for the first time that activation of GPR55 might be beneficial in combating PD.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28807673 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0028390817303842
“The orphan receptor GPR55 is a novel cannabinoid receptor” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2095107/
]]>GPR55: A therapeutic target for Parkinson’s disease?
“The GPR55 receptor is expressed abundantly in the brain, especially in the striatum, suggesting it might fulfill a role in motor function. Indeed, motor behavior is impaired in mice lacking GPR55, which also display dampened inflammatory responses.
Abnormal-cannabidiol (Abn-CBD), a synthetic cannabidiol (CBD) isomer, is a GPR55 agonist that may serve as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of inflammatory diseases.
In this study, we explored whether modulating GPR55 could also represent a therapeutic approach for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD).
These results demonstrate for the first time that activation of GPR55 might be beneficial in combating PD.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28807673
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0028390817303842
“The orphan receptor GPR55 is a novel cannabinoid receptor” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2095107/
The novel cannabinoid receptor GPR55 mediates anxiolytic-like effects in the medial orbital cortex of mice with acute stress.
“The G protein-coupled receptor 55 (GPR55) is a novel cannabinoid receptor, whose exact role in anxiety remains unknown. The present study was conducted to explore the possible mechanisms by which GPR55 regulates anxiety and to evaluate the effectiveness of O-1602 in the treatment of anxiety-like symptoms. Mice were exposed to two types of acute stressors: restraint and forced swimming. Anxiety behavior was evaluated using the elevated plus maze and the open field test. We found that O-1602 alleviated anxiety-like behavior in acutely stressed mice. We used lentiviral shRNA to selective ly knockdown GPR55 in the medial orbital cortex and found that knockdown of GPR55 abolished the anxiolytic effect of O-1602. We also used Y-27632, a specific inhibitor of ROCK, and U73122, an inhibitor of PLC, and found that both inhibitors attenuated the effectiveness of O-1602. Western blot analysis revealed that O-1602 downregulated the expression of GluA1 and GluN2A in mice. Taken together, these results suggest that GPR55 plays an important role in anxiety and O-1602 may have therapeutic potential in treating anxiety-like symptoms.”
“We report the cases of two young German male patients with treatment-resistant Tourette syndrome (TS), who suffer from incapacitating stuttering-like speech disfluencies caused by vocal blocking tics and palilalia. Case 1: a 19-year old patient received medical 