“Cannabinoids have been shown to exert analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects, and the effects of cannabinoids are mediated primarily by cannabinoid receptors 1 and 2 (CB1and CB2). Both CB1 and CB2 are present in bladders of various species, including human, monkey, and rodents, and it appears that CB2 is highly expressed in urothelial cells…
The results of the current study indicate that CB2 is a potential therapeutic target for treatment of bladder inflammation and pain in patients.”
“Recent experimental results have shown a functional role of the endocannabinoid system in urinary bladder. In this study, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of selective cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptor agonists in a mouse model of interstitial cystitis…
Taken together, these findings strongly suggest that modulation of the cannabinoid CB2 receptors might be a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of bladder diseases and conditions characterized by inflammation, such as interstitial cystitis.”
“Cannabis (or marijuana) has been used in traditional medicine to treat intestinal inflammation. A survey by Ravikoff Allegretti et al. at a specialized IBD clinic shows that, in the USA, marijuana is used by a substantial number of patients with IBD to alleviate their symptoms.”
http://www.nature.com/nrgastro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nrgastro.2013.245.html
“After 4 millennia of more or less documented history of cannabis use, the identification of cannabinoids, and of Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol in particular, occurred only during the early 1960s, and the cloning of cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors, as well as the discovery of endocannabinoids and their metabolic enzymes, in the 1990s.
Despite this initial relatively slow progress of cannabinoid research, the turn of the century marked an incredible acceleration in discoveries on the “endocannabinoid signaling system,” its role in physiological and pathological conditions, and pain in particular, its pharmacological targeting with selective agonists, antagonists, and inhibitors of metabolism, and its previously unsuspected complexity.
The way researchers look at this system has thus rapidly evolved towards the idea of the “endocannabinoidome,” that is, a complex system including also several endocannabinoid-like mediators and their often redundant metabolic enzymes and “promiscuous” molecular targets.
These peculiar complications of endocannabinoid signaling have not discouraged efforts aiming at its pharmacological manipulation, which, nevertheless, now seems to require the development of multitarget drugs, or the re-visitation of naturally occurring compounds with more than one mechanism of action.
In fact, these molecules, as compared to “magic bullets,” seem to offer the advantage of modulating the “endocannabinoidome” in a safer and more therapeutically efficacious way.
This approach has provided so far promising preclinical results potentially useful for the future efficacious and safe treatment of chronic pain and inflammation.”
“In ancient medicine, cannabis has been widely used to cure disturbances and inflammation of the bowel. A recent clinical study now shows that the medicinal plant Cannabis sativa has lived up to expectations and proved to be highly efficient in cases of inflammatory bowel diseases.
In a prospective placebo-controlled study, it has been shown what has been largely anticipated from anecdotal reports, i.e. that cannabis produces significant clinical benefits in patients with Crohn’s disease. The mechanisms involved are not yet clear but most likely include peripheral actions on cannabinoid receptors 1 and 2, and may also include central actions.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24356243
“In their prospective study, Naftali et al. used THC-free Cannabis as placebo with no other cannabinoids present. However, we should consider that also other ingredients of Cannabis, such as cannabidiol, cannabigerol, and tetrahydrocannabivarine (THCV), all of them non-psychotropic components of Cannabis, have proven antiinflammatory effects in experimental intestinal inflammation. Their actions partly involve non-CB receptor mechanisms via, for instance, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR) and transient receptor potential cation channels subfamily V receptors (TRPV) and should be regarded as additive beneficial effects of Cannabis in the improvement of colitis in addition to THC-mediated effects.
…an 8-week treatment with THC-rich Cannabis caused a decrease of the Crohn’s disease activity index (CDAI) in 90% of patients without producing significant side effects…
In summary, in agreement with the ancient use of Cannabis in intestinal disturbances and one decade of animal research, Cannabis was shown in a clinical trial to reduce symptoms in patients with CD. This elegant translation should be followed by larger trials confirming these results and by trials establishing the involved mechanisms to open a promising direction for future treatment of IBD.”
Full-text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4076530/
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“Cannabis was extensively used as a medicine throughout the developed world in the nineteenth century but went into decline early in the twentieth century ahead of its emergence as the most widely used illicit recreational drug later that century. Recent advances in cannabinoid pharmacology alongside the discovery of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) have re-ignited interest in cannabis-based medicines.
The ECS has emerged as an important physiological system and plausible target for new medicines. Its receptors and endogenous ligands play a vital modulatory role in diverse functions including immune response, food intake, cognition, emotion, perception, behavioural reinforcement, motor co-ordination, body temperature, wake/sleep cycle, bone formation and resorption, and various aspects of hormonal control. In disease it may act as part of the physiological response or as a component of the underlying pathology.
In the forefront of clinical research are the cannabinoids delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, and their contrasting pharmacology will be briefly outlined. The therapeutic potential and possible risks of drugs that inhibit the ECS will also be considered. This paper will then go on to review clinical research exploring the potential of cannabinoid medicines in the following indications: symptomatic relief in multiple sclerosis, chronic neuropathic pain, intractable nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite and weight in the context of cancer or AIDS, psychosis, epilepsy, addiction, and metabolic disorders.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24006213
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.1529/abstract
Crohn’s disease, one of several inflammatory bowel diseases, achieved “complete remission” in nearly half the subjects of one study that were exposed to smoking medical marijuana on a regular basis.
Published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the study examined the effects of consistent marijuana use on Crohn’s patients who suffered from severe cases of the disease. The results of the 21-subject study point toward the drug’s anti-inflammatory properties as being responsible for quieting symptoms in many patients, and even reaching total remission in others.”
“Crohn’s disease is a autoimmunity deficiency in the gastronomical tract that can cause anything from mild stomach pains to vomiting and in extreme cases, chronic bloody diarrhea. There’s no cure for the disorder but now, researchers in Israel say they’ve found evidence that marijuana causes complete remission of the disease.
This news comes the Meir Medical Center in Israel, which treated 21 patients suffering from Crohn’s disease. 11 of the patients smoked two joints per day of cannabis sativa, which the researchers believed would provide anti-inflammatory relief, while the other (unlucky) 10 were only given a placebo. “The marijuana plant Cannabis sativa has been reported to produce beneficial effects for patients with inflammatory bowel diseases, but this has not been investigated in controlled trials,” the researchers argued. “We performed a prospective trial to determine whether cannabis can induce remission in patients with Crohn’s disease.”
Five of the 11 patients who smoked the weed, the study, which was published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine, states, acheived “total remission” of their disease, whereas only four of the 10 patients who didn’t smoke the pot reported only slight improvement of their condition. Needless to say, the study, while promising, only seems to suggest that more research should be undertaken. “Further studies, with larger patient groups and a nonsmoking mode of intake, are warranted,” the scientists argued.”
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2013/07/marijuana_miracle_cure_for_cro.php
“Biological activity of cannabinoids is caused by binding to two cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2. Psychoactive is not only tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) but also: cannabidiol, cannabigerol or cannabichromen.
Formerly, the usefulness of hemp was assessed in the relation to temporary appeasement of the symptoms of some ailments as nausea or vomiting.
Present discoveries indicates that cannabis-based drugs has shown ability to alleviate of autoimmunological disorders such as: Multiple sclerosis (MS), Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or inflammatory bowel disease.
Another studies indicates that cannabinoids play role in treatment of neurological disorders like Alzheimer disease or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or even can reduce spreading of tumor cells.
Cannabinoids stand out high safety profile considering acute toxicity, it is low possibility of deadly overdosing and side-effects are comprise in range of tolerated side-effects of other medications.
In some countries marinol and nabilone are used as anti vomiting and nausea drug. First cannabis-based drug containg naturally occurring cannabinoids is Sativex. Sativex is delivered in an mucosal spray for patients suffering from spasticity in MS, pain relevant with cancer and neuropathic pain of various origin.
Cannabis side-effects varies and depend from several factors like administrated dose, rout of administration and present state of mind. After sudden break from long-lasting use, withdrawal symptoms can appear, although they entirely disappear after a week or two.”
“Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which are among the most widely used analgesics in the world, cause gastrointestinal inflammation that is potentially life-threatening.
Although inhibitors of endocannabinoid catabolic enzymes protect against gastropathy in fasted NSAID-treated mice, the gastroprotective effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive component of marijuana, have yet to be investigated…
These data indicate that the phytocannabinoid Δ9-THC protects against diclofenac-induced gastric inflammatory tissue damage at doses insufficient to cause common cannabinoid side effects.”