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The endocannabinoid system in normal and pathological brain ageing.

Authors: Andras Bilkei-Gorzo
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 5 December 2012

The role of endocannabinoids as inhibitory retrograde transmitters is now widely known and intensively studied. However, endocannabinoids also influence neuronal activity by exerting neuroprotective effects and regulating glial responses. This review centres around this less-s…

Cannabidiol prevents the development of cold and mechanical allodynia in paclitaxel-treated female C57Bl6 mice.

Authors: Sara Ward, Michael Ramirez, Harshini Neelakantan, Ellen Walker
Anesthesia and Analgesia, October 2011

The taxane chemotherapeutic paclitaxel frequently produces peripheral neuropathy in humans. Rodent models to investigate mechanisms and treatments are largely restricted to male rats, whereas female mouse studies are lacking. We characterized a range of paclitaxel doses on col…

The dual neuroprotective-neurotoxic profile of cannabinoid drugs.

Authors: Yosef Sarne, Fadi Asaf, Miriam Fishbein, Mikhal Gafni, Ora Keren
British Journal of Pharmacology, August 2011

Extensive in vitro and in vivo studies have shown that cannabinoid drugs have neuroprotective properties and suggested that the endocannabinoid system may be involved in endogenous neuroprotective mechanisms. On the other hand, neurotoxic effects of cannabinoids in vitro and i…

Loss of striatal type 1 cannabinoid receptors is a key pathogenic factor in Huntington’s disease.

Authors: Cristina Blázquez, Anna Chiarlone, Onintza Sagredo, Tania Aguado, M. Ruth Pazos, et al
Brain, January 2011

Endocannabinoids act as neuromodulatory and neuroprotective cues by engaging type 1 cannabinoid receptors. These receptors are highly abundant in the basal ganglia and play a pivotal role in the control of motor behaviour. An early downregulation of type 1 cannabinoid receptor…

Endocannabinoid involvement in endometriosis.

Authors: Natalia Dmitrieva, Hiroshi Nagabukuro, David Resuehr, Guohua Zhang, Stacy McAllister, et al
Pain, December 2010

Endometriosis is a disease common in women that is defined by abnormal extrauteral growths of uterine endometrial tissue and associated with severe pain. Partly because how the abnormal growths become associated with pain is poorly understood, the pain is difficult to alleviat…

Cannabis use in palliative care – an examination of the evidence and the implications for nurses.

Authors: Anita J Green, Kay De‐Vries
Journal of Clinical Nursing, September 2010

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: Examine the pharmaceutical qualities of cannabis including a historical overview of cannabis use. Discuss the use of cannabis as a clinical intervention for people experiencing palliative care, including those with life-threatening chronic illness such as mu…

Cannabinoids for Tourette’s Syndrome.

Authors: Adrienne Curtis, Carl E Clarke, Hugh E Rickards
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 7 October 2009

BACKGROUND: Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome (GTS) is a developmental neuropsychiatric disorder characterised by the presence of chronic motor and phonic tics. Drugs currently used in the treatment of GTS either lack efficacy or are associated with intolerable side effects. Ther…

Cannabidiol: from an inactive cannabinoid to a drug with wide spectrum of action.

Authors: Antonio Waldo Zuardi
Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, September 2008

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review is to describe the historical development of research on cannabidiol. METHOD: This review was carried out on reports drawn from Medline, Web of Science and SciELO. DISCUSSION: After the elucidation of the chemical structure of cannabidiol in 1…

A randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of cannabis cigarettes in neuropathic pain.

Authors: Barth Wilsey, Thomas Marcotte, Alexander Tsodikov, Jeanna Millman, Heather Bentley, et al
The Journal of Pain, June 2008

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA) report that no sound scientific studies support the medicinal use of cannabis. Despite this lack of scientific validatio…

Clinical endocannabinoid deficiency (CECD): can this concept explain therapeutic benefits of cannabis in migraine, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and other treatment-resistant conditions?

Authors: Ethan Budd Russo
Neuroendocrinology Letters, April 2008

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the concept of clinical endocannabinoid deficiency (CECD), and the prospect that it could underlie the pathophysiology of migraine, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and other functional conditions alleviated by clinical cannabis. METHODS:…

Cannabis, pain, and sleep: lessons from therapeutic clinical trials of Sativex, a cannabis-based medicine.

Authors: Ethan B. Russo, Geoffrey W. Guy, Philip J. Robson
Chemistry & Biodiversity, August 2007

Cannabis sativa L. has been utilized for treatment of pain and sleep disorders since ancient times. This review examines modern studies on effects of Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) on sleep. It goes on to report new information on the effects on sleep…

Pain measurements and side effect profile of the novel cannabinoid ajulemic acid.

Authors: Kahlid Salim, Udo Schneider, Sumner Burstein, Ludwig Hoy, Matthias Karst
Neuropharmacology, June 2005

Preclinical findings on ajulemic acid (AJA) showed analgesic and anti-allodynic effects without psychoactive properties making it an appealing substance for the treatment of pain. A recently published randomized double-blind crossover clinical trial described the pain-reducing…