Marijuana Ingredient May Stall Decline From Alzheimer's....

Since this is "Old Hippies Forum", I thought there'd be no better place to post this article of interest.

Basically what it says is that two proteins found in marijuana help to prevent the inflammation and mental decline so famous with Alzheimer's Disease.


Marijuana Ingredient May Stall Decline From Alzheimer's
2/22/2005

Source: Society for Neuroscience
New research shows that a synthetic analogue of the active component of marijuana may reduce the inflammation and prevent the mental decline associated with Alzheimer's disease.

"This research is not only a major step in our understanding [of] how the brain reacts to Alzheimer's disease, but may also help open a route to novel anti-Alzheimer's drugs," says Raphael Mechoulam, professor emeritus of medicinal chemistry at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and discoverer of marijuana's active component.


To show the preventive effects of cannabinoids on Alzheimer's disease, researchers at the Cajal Institute and Complutense University in Madrid, led by Maria de Ceballos, conducted studies using human brain tissue, as well as experiments with rats. The study appears in the February 23, 2005, issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

The team first compared the brain tissue of patients who died from Alzheimer's disease with that of healthy people who had died at a similar age. They looked closely at cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2– proteins to which cannabinoids bind, allowing their effects to be felt – and at microglia, which activate the brain's immune response. Micro- glia collect near plaques and, when active, cause inflammation. The researchers found a dramatically reduced functioning of cannabinoid receptors in diseased brain tissue, meaning that patients had lost the capacity to experience cannabinoids' protective effects.

In addition, the researchers showed that cannabinoids prevented cognitive decline through rat experiments. They injected either amyloid (which leads to cognitive decline) that had been allowed to aggregate or control proteins into the brains of rats for one week. Other rats were injected with a cannabinoid and either amyloid or a control protein.

After two months, the researchers trained the rats over five days to find a platform hidden underwater. Rats treated with the control protein – with or without cannabinoids – and those treated with the amyloid protein and cannabinoid were able to find the platform. Rats treated with amyloid protein alone did not learn how to find the platform.

The researchers found that the presence of amyloid protein in the rats' brains activated immune cells. Rats that received the control protein alone or cannabinoid and a control protein did not show activation of microglia. Using cell cultures, the investigators confirmed that cannabinoids counteracted the activation of microglia and thus 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]," de Ceballos says. The scientists will now focus their efforts on targeting one of the two main cannabinoid receptors that is not involved in producing the psychotropic effects, or high, from marijuana.

 

Thank you Sam. I read the majority of this research paper about a week or so ago;when it was first published. I found it very compelling. Its always nice to hear additional good news concerning the fact THC is now being viewed in a more positive away especially with regards to medical use and research. Instead of the usual BS our government often tries to feed many of us. Hopefully,in the future, medical research will uncover many additional uses for cannabis.

 

Yeah, I've had the paper sitting in my email box since Feb. 24th too. Just didn't know if I wanted to participate on this forum anymore. Glad you enjoyed it.

Sam

 

I do remember talk of this in a Dare class by someone some years ago. Though I know there were a lot of lies in it.

 

I posted the same story in the marijuana forum last week. http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70198

...but Sythetic Marijuana?! Jeeze just b/c Unkle Sam (not you ~Sam~) won't let us grow it, he's going to try to out do nature and make it himself. Sheesh! Maybe if they spend more time realizing the NATURAL Marijuana is cheaper and works on a lot of ailments, then maybe..maybe a chance could be had. But I doubt it, they probably already know, but just don't want to do anything about it.

 

Actually synthetic liquid THC including the 30 or so naturally occurring compounds that numerous physicians and scientists increasingly believe contribute to marijuana's overall medical benefit is now being legally prescribed for about the last two years [I believe] by British physicians for a number of ailments associated with glaucoma. To me,a drop or two of pure THC in each eye is the perfect way to reap the benefits of the medicine without the many contaminants a persons body absorbs when they inhale marijuana smoke.