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."
I know another Nobel Laureate in physics...who smokes mj. (as posted before.)
You're not kidding. The pot smokers I know THINK they're lucid Einsteins but SOUND like incoherent morons. Totally incapable of linear thought.
"Even If I gave you his name, I cannot here in this forum prove that a nobel laureate smoked weed."
So, your unprovable statement is not valid argument.
"I have no reason to lie."
Prove you have no reason to lie. Why should I believe that?
"So if you believe that all people who smoke MJ are stupid then it must be true---correct?"
Our tete-a-tete is not about what I believe, but about your specious argument to justify MJ use by citing its daily use by an anonymous Nobel Prize winner in Physics.
I mocked your argument by citing my witless woeful acquaintance. But, of great relevance and consequence, is the fact that 6million elementary school aged children are prescribed Ritalin on the orders of public school administrations. Ritalin is also used/abused illegally for "recreational" psychotropic purposes.
The far reaching consequences of legalizing drugs, as well as using psychotropic meds without Rx, is not addressed by specious arguments nor by faux studies supporting a radical political agenda.
By far reaching consequences I mean perhaps irreversible consequences which adversely affect social order, mental stability, and genetic viability of humankind in the near future.
I find it very ironic that zealous environmentalists freaked-out by enumerable pollutions assaulting our environment ignore the toxic pollution of drugs and Rx Meds which alter normal physiological chemistry.
From an old blues drummer...I resemble that assertion.
I don't think smoking MJ will make you any dumber or smarter than you already are. It's really just a stimulant. And for those that smoke it regularly it doesn't really affect them any more then would a cup of coffee.
Who cares what MJ does to the brain or body: hurt or heal, no matter.
Alcohol outright kills, but it still took a Constitutional Amendment to ban the manufacture, distribution, etc., of alcohol. I'm certain that the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was not a Constitutional Amendment. I also know that the other laws and administrative rules (such as sentencing guidelines, drug schedules, and case law) are not Constitutional Amendments.
It was, of course, all a big conspiracy to do away with the Fourth Amendment!
And you know this first hand?
Well, you seem to have a hard-on regarding drugs. But to make them illegal does not suppress their use but does serve to raise the profit for black markets. Some people like to get high and will do so no matter what you think or say. Alcohol is a big-time intoxicant and has been celebrated in literature and other media throughout time. You don't like that? Then suppress it, if you can.
"...appeal for a new international drug policy."
Brave New World!
It sure does. The munchies lead to hours in the sack with the wife. Though we stopped our very infrequent toking about 30 years ago when chems were blended in. Not nice.
It's a freedom agenda. And by today's standards, quite radical. Looking back sucks 'cause you can see the not-so-radical cages being built for the 'common good' in the not-so-distant future.
"Marijuana Compound Spurs Brain Cell Growth"
Maybe it's 'the munchies' that "spurs brain cell growth" - it certainly spurs other cell growth...
;>)
***!!! :>)
"Yeah, just think how much smarter Carl Sagan would have been."
I don't think Carl Sagan made any great contributions to astrophysics. He is widely known because he was a media figure.
And an interesting perspective looking at a Moody Blues album cover while eating two cans of plain tuna fish with an ice cream chaser. And a large pizza with anchovies.
Do you always excerpt post to make it appear that others say something they did not say?
Of course their "lifetime" is usually shortened by their use of drugs. Small price, though.
"From a lot of "art" I have seen, it appears they were stoned when they made it ..."
I think most of this crappy art should be stoned...with boulders. From the contemporary Art I've seen and the contemporary Music I've heard, thank God I have Bach for profundity and Botticelli for beauty.
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