“It has been observed cannabinoid CB1 receptor signalling and the levels of endocannabinoid ligands significantly increased in the basal ganglia and cerebrospinal fluids of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. These evidences suggest that the blocking of cannabinoid CB1 receptors might be beneficial to improve movement disorders as a sign of PD…
These results support this theory that cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonists might be useful to alleviate movement disorder in PD…”
“We have recently shown that chronic treatment with cannabidiol (CBD) was able to recover memory deficits induced by brain iron loading in a dose-dependent manner in rats.
Brain iron accumulation is implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, and has been related to cognitive deficits in animals and human subjects.
…we have analyzed the expression level of brain proteins involved with mitochondrial fusion and fission mechanisms (DNM1L and OPA1), the main integral transmembrane protein of synaptic vesicles (synaptophysin), and caspase 3, an apoptosis-related protein, to gain a better understanding of the potential of CBD in restoring the damage caused by iron loading in rats.
We found that CBD rescued iron-induced effects…
Our results suggest that iron affects mitochondrial dynamics, possibly trigging synaptic loss and apoptotic cell death and indicate that CBD should be considered as a potential molecule with memory-rescuing and neuroprotective properties to be used in the treatment of cognitive deficits observed in neurodegenerative disorders.”
“Cannabidiol, the main nonpsychotropic constituent of Cannabis sativa, possesses a large number of pharmacological effects including anticonvulsive, sedative, hypnotic, anxiolytic, antipsychotic, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective, as demonstrated in clinical and preclinical studies.
Many neurodegenerative disorders involve cognitive deficits, and this has led to interest in whether cannabidiol could be useful in the treatment of memory impairment associated to these diseases…
We used an animal model of cognitive impairment induced by iron overload in order to test the effects of cannabidiol in memory-impaired rats…
A single acute injection of cannabidiol at the highest dose was able to recover memory in iron-treated rats. Chronic cannabidiol improved recognition memory in iron-treated rats. Acute or chronic cannabidiol does not affect memory in control rats.
The present findings provide evidence suggesting the potential use of cannabidiol for the treatment of cognitive decline associated with neurodegenerative disorders.
Further studies, including clinical trials, are warranted to determine the usefulness of cannabidiol in humans suffering from neurodegenerative disorders.”
“The illegal status and wide-spread use of cannabis made basic and clinical cannabis research difficult in the past decades; on the other hand, it has stimulated efforts to identify the psychoactive constituents of cannabis. As a consequence, the endocannabinoid system was discovered, which was shown to be involved in most physiological systems — the nervous, the cardiovascular, the reproductive, the immune system, to mention a few.
One of the main roles of endocannabinoids is neuroprotection, but over the last decade they have been found to affect a long list of processes, from anxiety, depression, cancer development, vasodilatation to bone formation and even pregnancy.
Cannabinoids and endocannabinoids are supposed to represent a medicinal treasure trove which waits to be discovered…
The endocannabinoid system acts as a guardian against various attacks on the mammalian body.
Conclusion
The above described research concerning the endocannabinoid-system is of importance in both basic science and in therapeutics:
More: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071014163644.htm
“Smoking cannabis appeared to reduce tremor and pain and improve sleep among Parkinson’s disease patients, researchers from Israel reported here.
Overall, patients’ scores on the standard Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) averaged 33 before they smoked cannabis in the laboratory and averaged 24 after 30 minutes (P<0.01), Ruth Djaldetti, MD, of Tel Aviv University Israel, reported at her poster presentation at the International Congress on Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders.
“We not only saw improvement in tremor in these patients, but also in rigidity and in bradykinesia,” Djaldetti told MedPage Today. “I would recommend use of marijuana to my patients as a last resort if nothing else was working for them or if they had pain.””
“Cannabinoids show promise for the treatment of various medical conditions such as emesis, anorexia, pain, cancer, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and glaucoma.
The objective of the present work was to assess the feasibility of developing cannabinoid loaded poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) microparticles prepared by the oil-in-water emulsion-solvent evaporation technique as a suitable dosage form for their administration.
In vitro cell viability studies demonstrated the antitumoral activity of CBD released from microparticles. After 4 and 7 days of incubation, CBD in microspheres significantly inhibited the growth of MDA-MB-231 cells by 60% as compared to the 50% attained with free drug.
The results suggest that PCL microparticles could be an alternative delivery system for long-term cannabinoid administration, showing potential therapeutic advantages over free drug.”
“Researchers from Brazil’s prestigious University of Sao Paulo have discovered that marihuana contains substances which can help ease the collateral effects of medicines prescribed to patients suffering from Parkinson disease.”
“Six patients with Parkinson were given during a whole month small doses of “canabiodiol” one of the 400 substances in marihuana, following which encouraging results were confirmed according to scientists from the Riberao Preto Medicine School from the SP University.
“Patients with Parkinson developed improvements in their sleeping alterations, in their psychotic symptoms and could even reduce their trembling” said psychiatrist Jose Alexander Crippa, Neuro-sciences Department professor.
The paper on the discovery was published last November and next year an additional paper with test results on the anxiolytic effects of “canabiodiol” in patients with obsession and compulsion disorders will be released.
A group of voluntary patients with obsessive and compulsive conducts were medicated with the substance 70 minutes before facing situations that forced them into anxiety fits, and “improvements were evident”.”
“Marijuana continues to be a paradox as it makes its way from illicit drug to wonder medicine being used to treat a number of symptoms and disorders more safely than traditional pharmaceuticals.”
“In the latest news, cannabis, which has been associated with long-term cognitive deficits in chronic users, is now being tested as a treatment to preserve brain function after traumatic injury.
…some reports have shown that cannabis has neuroprotective effects. Studies have suggested that it has protective effects in neurodegenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s diseases.”
More: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/06/study-cannabis-may-prevent-brain-damage/
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/06/study-cannabis-may-prevent-brain-damage/#ixzz2VXJJw9yc
“The term ‘endocannabinoid’ – originally coined in the mid-1990s after the discovery of membrane receptors for the psychoactive principle in Cannabis, Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol and their endogenous ligands – now indicates a whole signalling system that comprises cannabinoid receptors, endogenous ligands and enzymes for ligand biosynthesis and inactivation. This system seems to be involved in an ever-increasing number of pathological conditions. With novel products already being aimed at the pharmaceutical market little more than a decade since the discovery of cannabinoid receptors, the endocannabinoid system seems to hold even more promise for the future development of therapeutic drugs. We explore the conditions under which the potential of targeting the endocannabinoid system might be realized in the years to come.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15340387
“Since the discovery of an endogenous cannabinoid system, research into the pharmacology and therapeutic potential of cannabinoids has steadily increased. Two subtypes of G-protein coupled cannabinoid receptors, CB(1) and CB(1), have been cloned and several putative endogenous ligands (endocannabinoids) have been detected during the past 15 years. The main endocannabinoids are arachidonoyl ethanolamide (anandamide) and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG), derivatives of arachidonic acid, that are produced “on demand” by cleavage of membrane lipid precursors.
Besides phytocannabinoids of the cannabis plant, modulators of the cannabinoid system comprise synthetic agonists and antagonists at the CB receptors and inhibitors of endocannabinoid degradation. Cannabinoid receptors are distributed in the central nervous system and many peripheral tissues, including immune system, reproductive and gastrointestinal tracts, sympathetic ganglia, endocrine glands, arteries, lung and heart. There is evidence for some non-receptor dependent mechanisms of cannabinoids and for endocannabinoid effects mediated by vanilloid receptors.
Properties of CB receptor agonists that are of therapeutic interest include analgesia, muscle relaxation, immunosuppression, anti-inflammation, antiallergic effects, improvement of mood, stimulation of appetite, antiemesis, lowering of intraocular pressure, bronchodilation, neuroprotection and antineoplastic effects. The current main focus of clinical research is their efficacy in chronic pain and neurological disorders. CB receptor antagonists are under investigation for medical use in obesity and nicotine addiction. Additional potential was proposed for the treatment of alcohol and heroine dependency, schizophrenia, conditions with lowered blood pressure, Parkinson’s disease and memory impairment in Alzheimer’s disease.”