Metabolic fingerprinting of Cannabis sativa L., cannabinoids and terpenoids for chemotaxonomic and drug standardization purposes.

Posted on June 10, 2015 by David

“Cannabis sativa L. is an important medicinal plant.

In order to develop cannabis plant material as a medicinal product quality control and clear chemotaxonomic discrimination between varieties is a necessity.

Therefore in this study 11 cannabis varieties were grown under the same environmental conditions. Chemical analysis of cannabis plant material used a gas chromatography flame ionization detection method that was validated for quantitative analysis of cannabis monoterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids, and cannabinoids. Quantitative data was analyzed using principal component analysis to determine which compounds are most important in discriminating cannabis varieties.

In total 36 compounds were identified and quantified in the 11 varieties. Using principal component analysis each cannabis variety could be chemically discriminated. This methodology is useful for both chemotaxonomic discrimination of cannabis varieties and quality control of plant material.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21040939

Cannabisin B induces autophagic cell death by inhibiting the AKT/mTOR pathway and S phase cell cycle arrest in HepG2 cells.

Posted on June 2, 2015 by David

“This study investigates the anticancer properties of cannabisin B, purified from hempseed hull, in HepG2 human hepatoblastoma cells.

The results indicate that cannabisin B significantly inhibited cell proliferation by inducing autophagic cell death rather than typical apoptosis.

Cell viability transiently increased upon the addition of a low concentration of cannabisin B but decreased upon the addition of high concentrations.

Cannabisin B-induced changes in cell viability were completely inhibited by pre-treatment with 3-methyladenine (3-MA), indicating that the induction of autophagy by cannabisin B caused cell death.

Additionally, cannabisin B induced S phase cell cycle arrest in a dose-dependent manner.

Moreover, cannabisin B was found to inhibit survival signaling by blocking the activation of AKT and down-stream targets of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR).

These findings suggest that cannabisin B possesses considerable antiproliferative activity and that it may be utilised as a promising chemopreventive agent against hepatoblastoma disease.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23411211

http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/liver-cancer-2/

Cannabidiol Rescues Acute Hepatic Toxicity and Seizure Induced by Cocaine.

Posted on May 23, 2015 by David

“Cocaine is a commonly abused illicit drug that causes significant morbidity and mortality. The most severe and common complications are seizures, ischemic strokes, myocardial infarction, and acute liver injury. Here, we demonstrated that acute cocaine intoxication promoted seizure along with acute liver damage in mice, with intense inflammatory infiltrate.

Considering the protective role of the endocannabinoid system against cell toxicity, we hypothesized that treatment with an anandamide hydrolysis inhibitor, URB597, or with a phytocannabinoid, cannabidiol (CBD), protects against cocaine toxicity.

URB597 (1.0 mg/kg) abolished cocaine-induced seizure, yet it did not protect against acute liver injury.

Using confocal liver intravital microscopy, we observed that CBD reduced acute liver inflammation and damage induced by cocaine and prevented associated seizure.

Additionally, we showed that previous liver damage induced by another hepatotoxic drug (acetaminophen) increased seizure and lethality induced by cocaine intoxication, linking hepatotoxicity to seizure dynamics.

These findings suggest that activation of cannabinoid system may have protective actions on both liver and brain induced by cocaine, minimizing inflammatory injury promoted by cocaine, supporting its further clinical application in the treatment of cocaine abuse.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25999668

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4427116/

http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/addiction/

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.).

Posted on May 14, 2015 by David

“Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) suspension culture cells were transformed with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA101 carrying the binary plasmid pNOV3635. The plasmid contains a phosphomannose isomerase (PMI) selectable marker gene. Cells transformed with PMI are capable of metabolizing the selective agent mannose, whereas cells not expressing the gene are incapable of using the carbon source and will stop growing. Callus masses proliferating on selection medium were screened for PMI expression using a chlorophenol red assay. Genomic DNA was extracted from putatively transformed callus lines, and the presence of the PMI gene was confirmed using PCR and Southern hybridization. Using this method, an average transformation frequency of 31.23% ± 0.14 was obtained for all transformation experiments, with a range of 15.1-55.3%.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25416268

A novel hemp seed meal protein hydrolysate reduces oxidative stress factors in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Posted on May 10, 2015 by David

“This report shows the antioxidant effects of a hemp seed meal protein hydrolysate (HMH) in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR)…

The results suggest that HMH contained antioxidant peptides that reduced the rate of lipid peroxidation in SHRs with enhanced antioxidant enzyme levels and total antioxidant capacity.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25493943

“Cannabis sativa L., also commonly called industrial hemp seed, is historically an important source of food, fibre, dietary oil and medicine; the seed contains about 30% oil and 25% protein…

Proteins from both plant and animal sources, including those of hemp seed, have been isolated and recognized as essential sources of bioactive peptides capable of exerting various in vitro and in vivo activities, such as antioxidant, antihypertensive, antimicrobial, opioid, antithrombotic, hypocholesterolemic, appetite-reducing, mineral-binding, immunomodulatory and cytomodulatory…

HMH may serve as an important ingredient to formulate antioxidant diets with potential therapeutic effects.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4276990/

http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/

Study: Pot May Improve Cognitive Functioning in Bipolar Disorder

Posted on May 5, 2015 by David

“Patients with severe psychiatric disorders actually function better in neurocognitive assessments when they have a history of marijuana use.

Patients with bipolar I disorder performed better in neurocognitive assessments when they had a history of marijuana use.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/08/study-pot-may-improve-cognitive-functioning-in-bipolar-disorder/261140/

“Cognitive and clinical outcomes associated with cannabis use in patients with bipolar I disorder” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4408776/

Therapeutic potential of cannabis in pain medicine†

Posted on April 27, 2015 by David

BJA

“Cannabis has been of medicinal and social significance for millennia.

It is obtained from Cannabis sativa and the plant’s name reflects its ancient use—cannabis may represent a compound of Sanskrit and Hebrew words meaning ‘fragrant cane’, while sativa is Latin for cultivated.

Cannabis is also known as hemp.

Marijuana describes the dried cannabis flowers and leaves which are smoked, while hashish refers to blocks of cannabis resin which can be eaten.

Advances in cannabis research have paralleled developments in opioid pharmacology whereby a psychoactive plant extract has elucidated novel endogenous signalling systems with therapeutic significance.

Cannabinoids (CBs) are chemical compounds derived from cannabis.

This review discusses the basic science and clinical aspects of CB pharmacology with a focus on pain medicine.

Advances in cannabis research have ensured a future for these analgesic molecules which have been used since antiquity.”

http://bja.oxfordjournals.org/content/101/1/59.long

http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/pain-2/

Historical essay: An Arabic surgeon, Ibn al Quff’s (1232-1286) account on surgical pain relief.

Posted on April 19, 2015 by David

“This is a review of Ibn al Quff’s account of surgical pain relief in his surgical book Al Omdah, in which he mentioned the word anesthetic (Al moukhadder) and the involvement of physician (al tabbaaee) to give mixture of drugs to prevent pain in a surgical condition to relieve the patient from pain or to make surgical management possible.

Hich indicated one rare occasion to such description in Arabic medical texts. Methods of administration of these drugs were inhalation, ingestion and by rectal suppositories.

The drugs used in anesthetic sponges include all the drugs that are recorded in the modern literature of anesthesia. They are as follows: opium, mandrake, Hyocymus albus, belladonna, Cannabis sativus, Cannabisindica, wild lettuce.

The anesthetic sponge, mentioned in many references as an inhalation method, may be of symbolic value to surgery.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25885079

“Ibn al-Quff (1233-1286 AD), a medieval Arab surgeon and physician. Abū’l-Faraj ibn Ya’qūb ibn Isāq Ibn al-Quff al-Karakī (1233-1286 AD), best known as Ibn al-Quff in the West, was a 13th century Arab physician-surgeon. During his lifetime, Ibn al-Quff made some important contributions to the art of healing. He authored several books and commentaries in the field of medicine, in particular surgery.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24585631

http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/pain-2/

The cannabis conundrum: Thinking outside the THC box.

Posted on April 10, 2015 by David

“Developing a solid evidence base regarding the health effects of cannabis is imperative given the momentum for legalization and the demand for sound regulatory practices.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25855064

http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/

Screening of cannabinoids in industrial-grade hemp using two-dimensional liquid chromatography coupled with acidic potassium permanganate chemiluminescence detection.

Posted on April 8, 2015 by David

Journal of Separation Science

“Widely known for its recreational use, the cannabis plant also has the potential to act as an antibacterial agent in the medicinal field.

The analysis of cannabis plants/products in both pharmacological and forensic studies often requires the separation of compounds of interest and/or accurate identification of the whole cannabinoid profile.

In order to provide a complete separation and detection of cannabinoids, a new two-dimensional liquid chromatography method has been developed using acidic potassium permanganate chemiluminescence detection, which has been shown to be selective for cannabinoids.

This was carried out using a Luna 100 Å CN column and a Poroshell 120 EC-C18 column in the first and second dimension respectively. The method has utilised a large amount of the available separation space with a spreading angle of 48.4° and a correlation of 0.66 allowing the determination of more than 120 constituents and mass spectral identification of ten cannabinoids in a single analytical run.

The method has potential to improve research involved in the characterisation of sensitive, complex matrices. ”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25845561

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jssc.201500088/abstract