“Aim: Investigating molecules having toxicity and chemical similarity to find hit molecules.
Methods: The machine learning (ML) model was developed to predict the arylhydrocarbon receptor (AHR) activity of anti-Parkinson’s and US FDA-approved drugs. The ML algorithm was a support vector machine, and the dataset was Tox21.
Results: The ML model predicted apomorphine in anti-Parkinson’s drugs and 73 molecules in FDA-approved drugs as active. The authors were curious if there is any molecule like apomorphine in these 73 molecules. A fingerprint similarity analysis of these molecules was conducted and found tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Molecular docking studies of THC for dopamine receptor 1 (affinity = -8.2 kcal/mol) were performed.
Conclusion: THC may affect dopamine receptors directly and could be useful for Parkinson’s disease.”
“A machine learning model was developed to predict AHR activity of anti-Parkinson’s and US FDA-approved drugs separately. The model predicted apomorphine in anti-Parkinson’s drugs, 73 molecules in FDA-approved drugs and tetrahydrocannabinol as active.”
“The medicinal properties of cannabis and cannabinoid-derivative are entirely investigated and known. In addition, the identification of psychotropic plant cannabinoids has led to more studies regarding the cannabinoid system and its therapeutic features in the treatment and management of clinical symptoms of neuroinflammatory disorders, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinsons disease (PD), and Alzheimers disease (AD). In fact, cannabinoid agonists are able to control and regulate inflammatory responses. In contrast to the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) and its unwanted adverse effects, the cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2) and its ligands hold promise for new and effective therapeutic approaches. So far, some successes have been achieved in this field. This review will discuss an outline of the endocannabinoid system’s involvement in neuroinflammatory disorders. Moreover, the pharmacological efficacy of different natural and synthetic preparations of phytocannabinoids acting on cannabinoid receptors, particularly in MS, PD, and AD, will be updated. Also, the reasons for targeting CB2 for neurodegeneration will be explained.”
“Objectives: Cannabis has been proposed as a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD) due to its neuroprotective benefits. However, there has been no rigorous review of preclinical studies to evaluate any potential treatment effect. This systematic review was undertaken to provide evidence in support or against a treatment effect of cannabinoids in animal models of PD.
Methods: Databases were searched for any controlled comparative studies that assessed the effects of any cannabinoid, cannabinoid-based treatment or endocannabinoid transport blocker on behavioural symptoms in PD animal models.
Results: A total of 41 studies were identified to have met the criteria for this review. 14 of these studies were included in meta-analyses of rotarod, pole and open field tests. Meta-analysis of rotarod tests showed a weighted mean difference of 31.63 s for cannabinoid-treated group compared with control. Meta-analysis of pole tests also showed a positive treatment effect, evidenced by a weighted mean difference of -1.51 s for cannabinoid treat group compared with control. However, meta-analysis of open field test demonstrated a standardised mean difference of only 0.36 indicating no benefit.
Conclusion: This review demonstrates cannabinoid treatment effects in alleviating motor symptoms of PD animal models and supports the conduct of clinical trials of cannabis in PD population. However, there is no guarantee of successful clinical translation of this outcome because of the many variables that might have affected the results, such as the prevalent unclear and high risk of bias, the different study methods, PD animal models and cannabinoids used.”
“Overall, this systematic review and meta-analysis provides evidence of the benefit of cannabinoid treatment in PD animal models, which warrants further investigations. This review supports clinical trial of cannabis or cannabis-based treatments in humans with PD.”
“Cannabidivarin (CBDV), a structural analog of cannabidiol (CBD), has received attention in recent years owing to its anticonvulsant property and potential for treating autism spectrum disorder. However, the function and mechanism of CBDV involved in the progression of Parkinson’s disease (PD) remain unclear. In this work, we found that CBDV inhibited α-synuclein (α-syn) aggregation in an established transgenetic Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). The phenolic hydroxyl groups of CBDV are critical for scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS), reducing the in vivo aggregation of α-syn and preventing DAergic neurons from 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced injury and degeneration. By combining multiple biophysical approaches, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy and fibrillation kinetics assays, we confirmed that CBDV does not directly interact with α-syn or inhibit the formation of α-syn fibrils in vitro. Further cellular signaling investigation showed that the ability of CBDV to prevent oxidative stress, the accumulation of α-syn and the degeneration of DAergic neurons was mediated by DAF-16 in the worms. This study demonstrates that CBDV alleviates the aggregation of α-syn in vivo and reveals that the phenolic hydroxyl groups of CBDV are critical for this activity, providing a potential for the development of CBDV as a drug candidate for PD therapeutics.”
“Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder which is characterised mostly by loss of dopaminergic nerve cells throughout the nigral area mainly as a consequence of oxidative stress. Muscle stiffness, disorganised bodily responses, disturbed sleep, weariness, amnesia, and voice impairment are all symptoms of dopaminergic neuron degeneration and existing symptomatic treatments are important to arrest additional neuronal death.
Some cannabinoids have recently been demonstrated as robust antioxidants that might protect the nerve cells from degeneration even when cannabinoid receptors are not triggered. Cannabinoids are likely to have property to slow or presumably cease the steady deterioration of the brain’s dopaminergic systems, a condition for which there is now no treatment.
The use of cannabinoids in combination with currently available drugs has the potential to introduce a radically new paradigm for treatment of Parkinson’s disease, making it immensely useful in the treatment of such a debilitating illness.”
“The use of cannabinoids as therapeutic drugs has increased among aging populations recently. Age-related changes in the endogenous cannabinoid system could influence the effects of therapies that target the cannabinoid system. At the preclinical level, cannabidiol (CBD) induces anti-amyloidogenic, antioxidative, anti-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects. These findings suggest a potential therapeutic role of cannabinoids to neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer.
Emerging evidence suggests that CBD and tetrahydrocannabinol have neuroprotective therapeutic-like effects on dementias. In clinical practice, cannabinoids are being used off-label to relieve symptoms of PD and AD. In fact, patients are using cannabis compounds for the treatment of tremor, non-motor symptoms, anxiety, and sleep assistance in PD, and managing responsive behaviors of dementia such as agitation. However, strong evidence from clinical trials is scarce for most indications.
Some clinicians consider cannabinoids an alternative for older adults bearing Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s dementia with a poor response to first-line treatments. In our concept and experience, cannabinoids should never be considered a first-line treatment but could be regarded as an adjuvant therapy in specific situations commonly seen in clinical practice. To mitigate the risk of adverse events, the traditional dogma of geriatric medicine, starting with a low dose and proceeding with a slow titration regime, should also be employed with cannabinoids. In this review, we aimed to address preclinical evidence of cannabinoids in neurodegenerative disorders such as PD and AD and discuss potential off-label use of cannabinoids in clinical practice of these disorders.”
“Cannabinoids constitute a promising pharmacological approach to treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders in late life.
Overall, cannabinoids compounds are well tolerated and appear to be safer than most psychotropic medication, but given the vulnerability of patients with dementia, they require appropriate monitoring by the clinician.”
“Despite the significant advances in neurology, the cure for neurodegenerative conditions remains a formidable task to date. Among various factors arising from the complex etiology of neurodegenerative diseases, neuroinflammation and oxidative stress play a major role in pathogenesis. To this end, some phytocannabinoids isolated from Cannabis sativa (widely known as marijuana) have attracted significant attention as potential neurotherapeutics. The profound effect of ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major psychoactive component of cannabis, has led to the discovery of the endocannabinoid system as a molecular target in the central nervous system (CNS). Cannabidiol (CBD), the major non-psychoactive component of cannabis, has recently emerged as a potential prototype for neuroprotective drug development due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and its well-tolerated pharmacological behavior. This review briefly discusses the role of inflammation and oxidative stress in neurodegeneration and demonstrates the neuroprotective effect of cannabidiol, highlighting its general mechanism of action and disease-specific pathways in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Furthermore, we have summarized the preclinical and clinical findings on the therapeutic promise of CBD in PD and AD, shed light on the importance of determining its therapeutic window, and provide insights into identifying promising new research directions.”
“The endocannabinoid system (ECS) dynamically regulates many aspects of mammalian physiology. ECS has gained substantial interest since growing evidence suggests that it also plays a major role in several pathophysiological conditions due to its ability to modulate various underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, cannabinoids, as components of the cannabinoid system (CS), have proven beneficial effects such as anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, neuromodulatory, antioxidative, and cardioprotective effects. In this comprehensive review, we aimed to describe the complex interaction between CS and most common age-related diseases such as neuro-degenerative, oncological, skeletal, and cardiovascular disorders, together with the potential of various cannabinoids to ameliorate the progression of these disorders. Since chronic inflammation is postulated as the pillar of all the above-mentioned medical conditions, we also discuss in this paper the potential of CS to ameliorate aging-associated immune system dysregulation.”
“The cannabinoid system has the potential to ameliorate different underlying mechanism involved in the progression of aging-related diseases. Additionally, ECS may represent a promising approach not only for the treatment, but also for the alleviation of age-related disorder-associated symptoms and/or for increasing the efficacy of existing drugs. Moreover, our findings show that cannabinoids may be able to modulate various mechanisms rather than targeting a single dysregulated pathway in age-related diseases. Natural as well as synthetic cannabinoids ameliorate the balance between neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation in neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, they may play an important role in modulating the complex physio-pathology of MS and may be used as immune modulators, neuroprotectors, or remyelination promoters. The modulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines through the endogenous cannabinoid system may have beneficial effects on MS, AD, PD, aging-related musculoskeletal changes, and CVDs. On the other hand, it is clearly now that targeting the ECS with various natural or synthetic compounds may have the theoretical potential of an improved control of cancer progression.”
“Medicinal cannabis has shown promise for the symptomatic treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD), but patient exposure to whole plant mixtures may be undesirable due to concerns around safety, consistency, regulatory issues, and psychoactivity. Identification of a subset of components responsible for the potential therapeutic effects within cannabis represents a direct path forward for the generation of anti-PD drugs. Using an in silico database, literature reviews, and cell based assays, GB Sciences previously identified and patented a subset of five cannabinoids and five terpenes that could potentially recapitulate the anti-PD attributes of cannabis. While this work represents a critical step towards harnessing the anti-PD capabilities of cannabis, polypharmaceutical drugs of this complexity may not be feasible as therapeutics. In this paper, we utilize a reductionist approach to identify minimal essential mixtures (MEMs) of these components that are amenable to pharmacological formulation. In the first phase, cell-based models revealed that the cannabinoids had the most significant positive effects on neuroprotection and dopamine secretion. We then evaluated the ability of combinations of these cannabinoids to ameliorate a 6-hydroxydopmamine (OHDA)-induced change in locomotion in larval zebrafish, which has become a well-established PD disease model. Equimolar mixtures that each contained three cannabinoids were able to significantly reverse the OHDA mediated changes in locomotion and other advanced metrics of behavior. Additional screening of sixty-three variations of the original cannabinoid mixtures identified five highly efficacious mixtures that outperformed the original equimolar cannabinoid MEMs and represent the most attractive candidates for therapeutic development. This work highlights the strength of the reductionist approach for the development of ratio-controlled, cannabis mixture-based therapeutics for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.”
“Cannabis has therapeutic promise in PD. However, there is a need to move beyond whole plant extracts and generate safe, reproducible medicines for patients. This paper identified promising minimal essential mixtures of cannabinoids based on a step-wise, strategic approach to reducing the complexity of the plant secondary metabolome. The sequential use of in silico, in vitro, and medium throughput in vivo experimental systems has generated refined, de-risked, mixtures that can now be tested in additional, higher-cost, preclinical model systems of PD.”
“Cannabidiol (CBD) presents antiparkinsonian properties and neuromodulatory effects, possibly due to the pleiotropic activity caused at multiple molecular targets.
Recently, the GPR55 receptor has emerged as a molecular target of CBD. Interestingly, GPR55 mRNA is expressed in the external globus pallidus (GPe) and striatum, hence, it has been suggested that its activity is linked to motor dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease (PD).
The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the intrapallidal injection of both CBD and a selective GPR55 antagonist (CID16020046) on motor asymmetry, fine motor skills, and GAD-67 expression in hemiparkinsonian rats. The hemiparkinsonian animal model applied involved the induction of a lesion in male Wistar rats via the infusion of the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the medial forebrain bundle via stereotaxic surgery. After a period of twenty days, a second surgical procedure was performed to implant a guide cannula into the GPe. Seven days later, lysophosphatidylinositol (LPI), CBD, or CID16020046 were injected once a day for three consecutive days (from the 28th to the 30th day post-lesion). Amphetamine-induced turning behavior was evaluated on the 14th and 30th days post-injury. The staircase test and fine motor skills were evaluated as follows: the rats were subject to a ten-day training period prior to the 6-OHDA injury; from the 15th to the 19th days post-lesion, the motor skills alterations were evaluated under basal conditions; and, from the 28th to the 30th day post-lesion, the pharmacological effects of the drugs administered were evaluated.
The results obtained show that the administration of LPI or CBD generated lower levels of motor asymmetry in the turning behavior of hemiparkinsonian rats. It was also found that the injection of CBD or CID16020046, but not LPI, in the hemiparkinsonian rats generated significantly superior performance in the staircase test, in terms of the use of the forelimb contralateral to the 6-OHDA-induced lesion, when evaluated from the 28th to the 30th day post-lesion. Similar results were also observed for superior fine motor skills performance for pronation, grasp, and supination. Finally, the immunoreactivity levels were found to decrease for the GAD-67 enzyme in the striatum and the ipsilateral GPe of the rats injected with CBD and CID16020046, in contrast with those lesioned with 6-OHDA.
The results obtained suggest that the inhibitory effects of CBD and CID16020046 on GPR55 in the GPe could be related to GABAergic overactivation in hemiparkinsonism, thus opening new perspectives to explain, at a cellular level, the reversal of the motor impairment observed in PD models.”
