Posted on 10/13/2005 2:38:13 PM PDT by Wolfie
Marijuana Compound Spurs Brain Cell Growth
In rat study, synthetic cannabinoid also boosted rodents' mood
THURSDAY, Oct. 13 (HealthDay News) -- When it comes to the controversy surrounding medical marijuana, an international team of researchers is busy stirring the pot by releasing findings that suggest the drug helps promote brain cell growth while treating mood disorders.
According to the study in rats, a super-potent synthetic version of the cannabinoid compound found in marijuana can reduce depression and anxiety when taken over an extended period of time.
This mood boost seems to be the result of the drug's ability to promote the growth of new brain cells, something no other addictive drug appears able to do, the researchers say.
The findings, which appear in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, remain preliminary, however.
"Our results were obtained from rats, and there's a big difference between rats and humans," said study co-author Dr. Xia Zhang, of the neuropsychiatry research unit in the department of psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada. "So, I don't really don't know yet if our findings apply to humans. But our results indicate that the clinical use of marijuana could make people feel better by helping control anxiety and depression."
The new findings come on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June granting federal authorities the power to stop doctors from prescribing marijuana. That decision also bars individuals from cultivating the herb for medical purposes.
The decision overrides laws currently on the books in 11 states which had legalized the use of marijuana for patients receiving a doctor's approval. According to the ruling, the Supreme Court justices made their decision on the basis of interstate commerce regulations rather than on an evaluation of the pros and cons of medical marijuana use.
But does medical marijuana work? To help settle that question, Zhang's team focused on the potential of a synthetic laboratory-produced form of the cannabinoid compound naturally found in the marijuana plant.
Humans and other animals also naturally produce the compound, and are known to have cannabinoid receptors lying on the surface of cells in the nervous system and the immune system.
Prior research has shown that, when exposed to cannabinoids, these receptors can provoke an anti-inflammatory and anti-convulsive response. They can also instigate a range of psychotropic effects such as euphoria.
The current study focused on a particular formulation of synthetic cannabinoid known as HU210 -- a compound which Zhang described as the most powerful cannabinoid in the world.
The authors explored both the short-term and long-term effects of exposure to HU210 in rats.
To measure the drug's short-term response, they gave adult rats a single injection of HU210. To study the same drug's effect over the longer term, the researchers gave a separate group of adult rats twice-daily injections of the cannabinoid over a two-week period.
Autopsies revealed that by the end of the 10-day HU210 treatment regimen, new neurons had been generated and integrated into the circuitry of the hippocampus region of the rat's brains. This process, known as neurogenesis, was still in evidence a full month after treatment had been initiated.
Neurogenesis was not triggered in response to brain cells being killed through cannabinoid exposure, the researchers add. In fact, HU210 injections did not appear to prompt any loss of neurons in the hippocampus.
Cannabinoid use appeared to boost mood, as well: According to the scientists, behavioral tests suggest that long-term treatment reduced the rodent's anxiety- and depression-linked behaviors.
For example, one month post-treatment, treated rats deprived of food for 48 hours were quicker than similarly deprived, non-treated rats to begin eating food when it was finally offered to them in an unfamiliar environment.
The researchers believe treated rats may have been less anxious in the manner they handled this novel situation. They stress the results were not related to cannabinoids' appetite-stimulating effects, since the treated rats' eating behavior was similar to that of untreated rats when they were offered food in a familiar setting.
Treated rats also responded in a less anxious manner to swimming and climbing tests, and displayed shorter periods of immobility compared with untreated rats. The latter finding was interpreted to mean that HU210 had an antidepressant effect on rats receiving the cannabinoid over the longer term.
However, while long-term administration of higher doses worked to reduce anxiety and depression, lower doses did not appear to have the same effect, the researchers added.
Zhang and his associates credit cannabinoid-linked neurogenesis with the apparent mood shifts seen in the animals.
The hippocampus area of the brain where the neuronal growth occurred is key to the regulation of stress and other mood disorders, Zhang's team point out. This region is also important to the control of cognitive processes such as learning and memory.
Among the common addictive drugs, marijuana alone appears able to promote neurogenesis when used over time and in the right dosage, the researchers say. In contrast, prior research has demonstrated that chronic administration of cocaine, opiates, alcohol and nicotine inhibits brain cell growth.
"If our results can be confirmed in humans, we should anticipate the chronic use of marijuana as a medical treatment for anxiety and depression," Zhang said.
However, he cautioned that "this treatment is not the same as smoking marijuana. Whether smoking marijuana can produce the same effect, we just don't know."
Dr. Perry G. Fine, a professor of anesthesiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine Pain Research Center, said more than enough data has already been gathered to confirm medical marijuana's potential benefits.
"It's great that there's new science, but to me this is no longer an epiphany," he said. "It's just proving what's been long-suspected. We're behind the curve with the cannabinoids largely because of the stigma of marijuana going years and years back."
"I think most people with clinical expertise in the area of palliative medicine know that if patients had access to all the tools we currently have, we could certainly do a whole lot better to help people live with multiple chronic diseases," he added. "The social policies are way behind our technology, and that's where we need some catching up."
The smoking gun ....
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v7/n10/full/nm1001-1151.html
Interesting study, and I have to go back to study it in depth.
Excerpt:
"The endocannabinoid system has been implicated in a number of neuropsychiatric conditions, including drug addiction7, 8. The active ingredient of marijuana, 9-tetrahydrocannabinol, activates the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) reward system9, 10 and has rewarding effects in preclinical models of drug abuse8, 11, 12. We report here that the synthetic cannabinoid agonist, HU210 (ref. 13), provokes relapse to cocaine seeking after prolonged withdrawal periods. Furthermore, the selective CB1 receptor antagonist, SR141716A (ref. 14), attenuates relapse induced by re-exposure to cocaine-associated cues or cocaine itself, but not relapse induced by exposure to stress. These data reveal an important role of the cannabinoid system in the neuronal processes underlying relapse to cocaine seeking, and provide a rationale for the use of cannabinoid receptor antagonists for the prevention of relapse to cocaine use."
Cripes! Timothy LSD Leary...imploded intelligence. I knew one of his young disciples with a totally burned-out brain and bonkers as hell.
It's not enough to have Abortion Worship. Drug Worship is a demented suicidal "get high" orthodoxy.
BTW, Hemp ain't Marijuana! I advocate domestic cultivation of Hemp. It is an incredible weed, economically to grow with high yield, requires no pesticides, has so many product applications. BUT, you can't smoke it or make great Brownies with it - it has no psychotropic properties.
Don't mistake MJ for Hemp - they are different weeds.
Thank You, Thank You.. I'll be here every night this week...
Industrial Hemp is not Marijuana. Hemp has NO psychotropic properties. However, the kindred plants closely resemble each other and that fact is the major objection to legalizing Hemp - the resulting chaos from mistaken identity. Imagine the problems caused by those who have to be "high" and they raid Hemp farms with high hopes.
"His brain turned to mush after becoming a pothead. His prediction of nuclear winter from the oil well fires after the first Gulf War is evidence of that."
My impression is that the whole "nuclear winter" thing was largely a device to scare the West into unilateral nuclear disarmament so that we could easily succumb to the Soviet Union. I'd wager that a single major volcanic eruption has more potential to alter global weather patterns than all the nuclear devices in the world.
"Who's lying?"
The Soros sponsored pro-drug web sites.
***George Soros, antiAmerican megalomaniac and El Destructo.
Soros owns the Democrat party and wants to contaminate western civilization with his singularly inverted worldview.
Soros funds pro-drug (& antiChristian)activist groups to facilitate his goal to breakdown of American society. Soros' demented goal is to deconstruct the United States of America. Soros bloated deceptive usage of "democracy" and "freedom" to define his "Open Society" concept better testifies to his delusional dystopian ideation. Soros' "Open Society" is a one world government ideology.
This beguiling *philantropist* is personified evil rapt with powerlusting entitlement to control the world. He's a great subject for a Bond villain - like Goldfinger.
For those who cannot read between the lines and see Soros for what he really is, then they have a serious if not fatal lack of perception and a low survival threshhold.
Soros is persona non grata in most of Europe. Japan banished him. BTW, his Quantum business is off-shore and pays NO TAXES to the U.S.
You know some really imcompetent people.
No it doesn't.. It deals with one specific compound found in Pot..
"HU210 injections did not appear to prompt any loss of neurons in the hippocampus."
Furthermore:
" However, he cautioned that "this treatment is not the same as smoking marijuana. Whether smoking marijuana can produce the same effect, we just don't know."
It's a common hallucination for consumers of cannibis.
And I have found that the BEST computer programmers are all stoners. If I ran a IP department. I would do drug testing and only hire the stoners!
A great example is music. A very good friend of mine was the leader of a band and was ragging his lead guitarist about leaving off the dope to become tighter as a band. The guitarist protested that "I play better when I am stoned." Kyle responded "no, you THINK you play better...." He then taped him in the studio (the basement) doing about three songs, one of which had a long and fairly complicated riff. They had taped a previous concert. Kyle put in the tape, and edited out all the tracks but the guitarist. The guy watched the two tapes and simply responded "f*cking sh*t, I had no idea I sucked that bad." Yet he felt like a guitar god. It does not "enhance creativity." All it does is depress the rational and critical activity so that the "creative" thought processes are dominant, even though they are somewhat subdued.
Yeah, but the moron didn't inhale......I can't shake that line...It is about the most stupid line I've ever heard.
Funny, wives of 36 years smoke it, too..must be the good sex.
It really IS amazing how many folks smoke weed. Male, female, young, old.....
I keep thinking of all the possible tax dollars we are giving to the dealers....You sure as hell ain't gonna stop demand.
Agree with what you are saying "in essence"..
With this suggestion:
It "suppresses" not depresses..
Left brain functions, such as complex physical coordination are affected..
Also, inability to maintain a sustained, logical train of thought... ( short attention span, easily distracted. )
It is for such reasons that I would keep certain laws on the books, like DUI.. Driving Under the Influence.
No One should drive while stoned..
Reaction times are screwed..
Distraction and hallucinatory episodes can occur while driving, causing erratic driving or loss of control..
If you have the experience you claim, then you are familiar with "stoners" out on some country road, doing 10 - 15 mph, and still managing to leave the road and end up in a ditch..
WildTurkey
Since Sep 24, 2004
Sir Gawain
Since Nov 27, 2000
Hmmm...who's the "noob" here, Turkey?
Unless of course you were banned under another name (CinFla, perhaps) and weaseled your way back in the FR.
Rather belated ping.
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