Anxiety and related disorders are the most common mental conditions affecting the North American population. Despite their established efficacy, first-line antidepressant treatments are associated with significant side effects, leading many afflicted individuals to seek alternative treatments. Cannabis is commonly viewed as a natural alternative for a variety of medical and mental health conditions. Currently, anxiety ranks among the top five medical symptoms for which North Americans report using medical marijuana. However, upon careful review of the extant treatment literature, the anxiolytic effects of cannabis in clinical populations are surprisingly not well-documented. The effects of cannabis on anxiety and mood symptoms have been examined in...

Cannabidiol (CBD) has beneficial effects in disorders as wide ranging as diabetes, Huntington’s disease, cancer and colitis. Accumulating evidence now also suggests that CBD is beneficial in the cardiovascular system. CBD has direct actions on isolated arteries, causing both acute and time-dependent vasorelaxation. In vitro incubation with CBD enhances the vasorelaxant responses in animal models of impaired endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. CBD protects against the vascular damage caused by a high glucose environment, inflammation or the induction of type 2 diabetes in animal models and reduces the vascular hyperpermeability associated with such environments. A common theme throughout these studies is the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effect of...

Abstract Marijuana has been utilized as a medicinal plant to treat a variety of conditions for nearly five millennia. Over the past few years, there has been an unprecedented interest in using cannabis extracts to treat epilepsy, spurred on by a few refractory pediatric cases featured in the media that had an almost miraculous response to cannabidiol-enriched marijuana extracts. This review attempts to answer the most important questions a clinician may have regarding the use of marijuana in epilepsy. First, we review the preclinical and human evidences for the anticonvulsant properties of the different cannabinoids, mainly tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Then, we explore...

Effects of four cannabinoids [cannabidiol (CBD), delta 8-tetrahydrocannabinol, delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol, and cannabinol] on hepatic microsomal oxidation of testosterone (17 beta-hydroxy-androst-4-ene-3-one) were examined in adult male rats. Only CBD (30 microM) competitively inhibited 2 alpha-hydroxy-testosterone (2 alpha-OH-T) and 16 alpha-OH-T formation by hepatic microsomes but did not affect androstenedione (androst-4-ene-3,17-dione) and 7 alpha-OH-T formation. Kinetic analyses demonstrated that the inhibitory profile of CBD for testosterone oxidation was different from those of SKF 525-A, which caused competitive inhibition for 2 alpha- and 16 alpha-hydroxylations and noncompetitive inhibition for 6 alpha-hydroxylation, and of metyrapone, which inhibited only 6 beta-hydroxylation competitively. CBD also suppressed formation of 2 alpha-OH-T,...

Abstract The mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective effects of cannabidiol (CBD) were studied in vivo using a hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury model in newborn pigs. One- to two-day-old piglets were exposed to HI for 30 min by interrupting carotid blood flow and reducing the fraction of inspired oxygen to 10%. Thirty minutes after HI, the piglets were treated with vehicle (HV) or 1 mg/kg CBD, alone (HC) or in combination with 1 mg/kg of a CB₂ receptor antagonist (AM630) or a serotonin 5HT(1A) receptor antagonist (WAY100635). HI decreased the number of viable neurons and affected the amplitude-integrated EEG background activity as well as different prognostic...

Marijuana has been used for centuries, and interest in its medicinal properties has been increasing in recent years. Investigations into these medicinal properties has led to the development of cannabinoid pharmaceuticals such as dronabinol, nabilone, and nabiximols. Dronabinol is best studied in the treatment of nausea secondary to cancer chemotherapy and anorexia associated with weight loss in patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome, and is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for those indications. Nabilone has been best studied for the treatment of nausea secondary to cancer chemotherapy. There are also limited studies of these drugs for other conditions. Nabiximols is only...

Cannabinoids are known to exert immunosuppressive activities. However, the mechanisms which contribute to these effects are unknown. Using lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to activate BV-2 microglial cells, we examined how D9 - tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major psychoactive component of marijuana, and cannabidiol (CBD) the non-psychoactive component, modulate the inflammatory response. Microarray analysis of genome-wide mRNA levels was performed using Illumina platform and the resulting expression patterns analyzed using the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis to identify functional subsets of genes, and the Ingenuity System Database to denote the gene networks regulated by CBD and THC. From the 5338 transcripts that were differentially expressed across treatments, 400 transcripts were...

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a major phytocannabinoid present in the Cannabis sativa plant. It lacks the psychotomimetic and other psychotropic effects that the main plant compound D9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) being able, on the contrary, to antagonize these effects. This property, together with its safety profile, was an initial stimulus for the investigation of CBD pharmacological properties. It is now clear that CBD has therapeutic potential over a wide range of non-psychiatric and psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression and psychosis. Although the pharmacological effects of CBD in different biological systems have been extensively investigated by in vitro studies, the mechanisms responsible for its therapeutic potential...

Animal and human studies indicate that cannabidiol (CBD), a major constituent of cannabis, has anxiolytic properties. However, no study to date has investigated the effects of this compound on human pathological anxiety and its underlying brain mechanisms. The aim of the present study was to investigate this in patients with generalized social anxiety disorder (SAD) using functional neuroimaging. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) at rest was measured twice using (99m)Tc-ECD SPECT in 10 treatment-naïve patients with SAD. In the first session, subjects were given an oral dose of CBD (400 mg) or placebo, in a double-blind procedure. In the second session, the same procedure was...

Diabetic retinopathy is characterized by blood-retinal barrier (BRB) breakdown and neurotoxicity. These pathologies have been associated with oxidative stress and proinflammatory cytokines, which may operate by activating their downstream target p38 MAP kinase. In the present study, the protective effects of a nonpsychotropic cannabinoid, cannabidiol (CBD), were examined in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats after 1, 2, or 4 weeks. Retinal cell death was determined by terminal dUTP nick-end labeling assay; BRB function by quantifying extravasation of bovine serum albumin-fluorescein; and oxidative stress by assays for lipid peroxidation, dichlorofluorescein fluorescence, and tyrosine nitration. Experimental diabetes induced significant increases in oxidative stress, retinal neuronal cell death, and...