Cannabis, or marijuana, has been used for medicinal purposes for many years. Several types of cannabinoid medicines are available in the United States and Canada. Dronabinol (schedule III), nabilone (schedule II), and nabiximols (not U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved) are cannabis-derived pharmaceuticals. Medical cannabis or medical marijuana, a leafy plant cultivated for the production of its leaves and flowering tops, is a schedule I drug, but patients obtain it through cannabis dispensaries and statewide programs. The effect that cannabinoid compounds have on the cannabinoid receptors (CB(1) and CB(2) ) found in the brain can create varying pharmacologic responses based on formulation and patient...

Recently, cannabis has been suggested as a potential alternative therapy for refractory epilepsy, which affects 30% of epilepsy, both adults and children, who do not respond to current medications. There is a large unmet medical need for new antiepileptics that would not interfere with normal function in patients with refractory epilepsy and conditions associated with refractory seizures. The two chief cannabinoids are D-9-tetrahyrdrocannabinol, the major psychoactive component of marijuana, and cannabidiol (CBD), the major nonpsychoactive component of marijuana. Claims of clinical efficacy in epilepsy of CBD-predominant cannabis or medical marijuana come mostly from limited studies, surveys, or case reports. However, the mechanisms underlying the...

The therapeutic potential of cannabidiol, the major non-psychotropic Cannabis constituent, was investigated in rats exposed to ischemia/reperfusion liver injury. Ischemia was induced by clamping the pedicle of the left hepatic lobe for 30 min, and cannabidiol (5 mg/kg, i.v.) was given 1 h following the procedure and every 24 h thereafter for 2 days. Ischemia/reperfusion caused significant elevations of serum alanine aminotransferase and hepatic malondialdehyde, tumor necrosis factor-α and nitric oxide levels, associated with significant decrease in hepatic reduced glutathione. Cannabidiol significantly attenuated the deterioration in the measured biochemical parameters mediated by ischemia/reperfusion. Histopathological examination showed that cannabidiol ameliorated ischemia/reperfusion-induced liver damage. Immunohistochemical analysis...

Cannabis contains the psychoactive component delta9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (delta9 -THC), and the non-psychoactive components cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol, and cannabigerol. It is well-known that delta9 -THC and other cannabinoid CB1 receptor agonists are neuroprotective during global and focal ischemic injury. Additionally, delta9 -THC also mediates psychological effects through the activation of the CB1 receptor in the central nervous system. In addition to the CB1 receptor agonists, cannabis also contains therapeutically active components which are CB1 receptor independent. Of the CB1 receptor-independent cannabis, the most important is CBD. In the past five years, an increasing number of publications have focused on the discovery of the anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant,...

Objective: To review the main advances related to the potential therapeutic use of cannabinoid compounds in psychiatry. Method: A search was performed in the online databases PubMed, ScieELO, and Lilacs for studies and literature reviews concerning therapeutic applications of cannabinoids in psychiatry, especially cannabidiol, rimonabant, ∆9 -tetrahydrocannabinol, and their analogues. Results: Cannabidiol was found to have therapeutic potential with antipsychotic, anxiolytic, and antidepressant properties, in addition to being effective in other conditions. ∆9 -tetrahydrocannabinol and its analogues were shown to have anxiolytic effects in the treatment of cannabis dependence and to function as an adjuvant in the treatment of schizophrenia, although additional studies are...

BACKGROUND The Dravet syndrome is a complex childhood epilepsy disorder that is associated with drug-resistant seizures and a high mortality rate. We studied cannabidiol for the treatment of drug-resistant seizures in the Dravet syndrome. METHODS In this double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we randomly assigned 120 children and young adults with the Dravet syndrome and drug-resistant seizures to receive either cannabidiol oral solution at a dose of 20 mg per kilogram of body weight per day or placebo, in addition to standard antiepileptic treatment. The primary end point was the change in convulsive-seizure frequency over a 14-week treatment period, as compared with a 4-week baseline period....

Background: Cannabis therapy has been considered an effective treatment for spasticity, although clinical reports of symptom reduction in multiple sclerosis (MS) describe mixed outcomes. Recently introduced therapies of combined Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) extracts have potential for symptom relief with the possibility of reducing intoxication and other side effects. Although several past reviews have suggested that cannabinoid therapy provides a therapeutic benefit for symptoms of MS, none have presented a methodical investigation of newer cannabinoid treatments in MS-related spasticity. The purpose of the present review was to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of combined THC and CBD extracts on MS-related spasticity in order to...

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...