Hello all,
The next text was posted by Denis Rocheleau on "Parkliste".
Since I can't remember seeing it yet on this list I'm posting it here.
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Cannabinoid Antioxidant Protects Brain Cells -- Without the High
Contact: Jules Asher (301) 443-4536
[log in to unmask]
Source: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
July 2, 1998
National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists have discovered that
cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive, naturally-occurring substance in the
marijuana plant, is a potent antioxidant which can prevent brain cell
death in an experimental stroke model. The cannabinoid's neuroprotective
properties matched or surpassed other antioxidants in the cell culture
model, report National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) researchers
Aidan Hampson, Ph.D., Julius Axelrod, Ph.D., and NIH colleagues.
As an antioxidant, cannabidiol might hold promise for preventing brain
damage in stroke, Alzheimer's disease, PARKINSON's disease, and perhaps,
heart attacks, say the researchers.
"Cannabidiol is a desirable candidate for a side-effect-free therapeutic
agent because it does not activate cannabinoid receptors, which mediate
marijuana's high," explained Hampson, of the NIMH Laboratory of Cellular
and Molecular Regulation. "It does not produce euphoria."
In disorders like stroke, neurotoxic levels of the brain chemical messenger
glutamate are released, overstimulating glutamate receptors, which opens the
floodgates to a massive influx of calcium and formation of toxic reactive
oxygen species, or free radicals. Antioxidants can protect against this
process. Cannabidiol protected cultured rat brain cells against damage from
glutamate and reactive oxygen species, performing better than vitamins C and
E and as well as the potent antioxidant BHT.
Although the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana (THC) known to activate
cannabinoid receptors also protected the neurons, neither cannabinoids'
antioxidant properties were mediated by cannabinoid receptors.
Preliminary results from studies now underway using cannabidiol in live
animal models of stroke are looking promising, said Hampson. He noted that
the substance passes readily from the blood into the brain and in the past
has been tested in humans over several weeks, at high doses, with no
apparent side effects reported.
Hampson, Axelrod and colleagues Maurizio Grimaldi, M.D., Ph.D., National
Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and David Wink,
Ph.D., National Cancer Institute (NCI), report on their findings in the
July 7 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
NIMH, NINDS and NCI are components of the National Institutes of Health, an
agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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