Marijuana Mimic Fights Alzheimer's Damage
Synthetic compound reduces inflammation and prevents mental decline in animal model
Betterhumans Staff
A synthetic mimic of the active component in marijuana reduces inflammation and prevents mental decline in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease, suggesting that similar compounds—and perhaps marijuana itself—might do the same in humans.
The finding focuses on cannabinoids, compounds in marijuana that bind to cannabinoid receptors in the brain.
To test their preventive effect against Alzheimer's disease, Maria de Ceballos and colleagues at the Cajal Institute and Complutense University in Madrid conducted experiments on human brain tissue and rats.
They found that in the brain tissue of people who died from Alzheimer's, there was dramatically reduced functioning of cannabinoid receptors compared to people of the same age who died without the condition, meaning sufferers had lost the ability to benefit from cannabinoids' protective effects.
Supporting this finding, the researchers showed in rats that cannabinoids prevent cognitive decline.
Cannabinoid protection
Ceballos and colleagues injected either the Alzheimer's-linked protein amyloid or a control protein into the brain of rats. Some of the rats were also injected with a cannabinoid.
After two months, the rats were trained to find a platform hidden underwater, a test of learning and memory.
All rats who received the control protein could find the platform. Rats who received amyloid without cannabinoids did not learn how to do this. But rats given amyloid and cannabinoids did.
Examining the rats' brains, the researchers found that amyloid caused inflammation and activated microglia, which activate the brain's immune response. In cell cultures, cannabinoids counteracted this activation and reduced inflammation.
"These findings that cannabinoids work both to prevent inflammation and to protect the brain may set the stage for their use as a therapeutic approach for [Alzheimer's disease]," says de Ceballos says.
The researchers are now focusing on one of two main cannabinoid receptors that isn't involved in producing marijuana's high.
The research is reported in The Journal of Neuroscience.
http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2005-02-22-2
Betterhumans Staff
A synthetic mimic of the active component in marijuana reduces inflammation and prevents mental decline in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease, suggesting that similar compounds—and perhaps marijuana itself—might do the same in humans.
The finding focuses on cannabinoids, compounds in marijuana that bind to cannabinoid receptors in the brain.
To test their preventive effect against Alzheimer's disease, Maria de Ceballos and colleagues at the Cajal Institute and Complutense University in Madrid conducted experiments on human brain tissue and rats.
They found that in the brain tissue of people who died from Alzheimer's, there was dramatically reduced functioning of cannabinoid receptors compared to people of the same age who died without the condition, meaning sufferers had lost the ability to benefit from cannabinoids' protective effects.
Supporting this finding, the researchers showed in rats that cannabinoids prevent cognitive decline.
Cannabinoid protection
Ceballos and colleagues injected either the Alzheimer's-linked protein amyloid or a control protein into the brain of rats. Some of the rats were also injected with a cannabinoid.
After two months, the rats were trained to find a platform hidden underwater, a test of learning and memory.
All rats who received the control protein could find the platform. Rats who received amyloid without cannabinoids did not learn how to do this. But rats given amyloid and cannabinoids did.
Examining the rats' brains, the researchers found that amyloid caused inflammation and activated microglia, which activate the brain's immune response. In cell cultures, cannabinoids counteracted this activation and reduced inflammation.
"These findings that cannabinoids work both to prevent inflammation and to protect the brain may set the stage for their use as a therapeutic approach for [Alzheimer's disease]," says de Ceballos says.
The researchers are now focusing on one of two main cannabinoid receptors that isn't involved in producing marijuana's high.
The research is reported in The Journal of Neuroscience.
http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2005-02-22-2
posted by Klip7 at
12:39 AM
