Will cannabis protect against senile dementia?
The use of cannabis-based drugs may be beneficial for the aging brain, preventing the development of Alzheimer's disease. Scientists from Ohio State University have found that the main psychoactive component of marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), reduces chronic inflammation in the brain, and also promotes the formation of new neurons.
Study leader Gary Wenk and his colleagues studied the effect of THC on elderly rats. For three weeks, animals were subcutaneously injected with low doses of a synthetic drug based on THC. At the same time, tests were conducted to assess memory – rats were placed in a water maze in which they had to discover and memorize the position of the secret platform.
It turned out that the rats who received the marijuana-based medicine coped better with the task than the animals from the control group. Further analysis showed that the use of THC led to a decrease in inflammation in the hippocampus – the part of the brain responsible for short-term memory, as well as the formation of new neurons.
At the next stage of the experiments, scientists tried to establish the mechanism of action of THC by blocking certain receptors. As a result, they concluded that the key role in the protective effect of the drug is played by receptors called TRPV1, CB1 and CB2.
Scientists have suggested that the ability of THC to block inflammation in the brain may be useful for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease: it is believed that this mechanism plays an important role in the process of memory loss in patients. According to researchers, even smoking marijuana can have a certain protective effect in people with a hereditary predisposition to Alzheimer's disease. However, this "treatment" cannot be recommended. However, in the future, drugs may appear that have a similar mechanism of action without an undesirable psychoactive effect.
The report on the results of the study was presented by scientists at the annual meeting of the American Society of Neurologists, held in Washington.