Cannabinoid Research - Science topic

Review Factors affecting cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol production in Cannabis: Internal mechanisms and environmental factors-A systematic review [Factores que afectan la producción de cannabidiol y tetrahidrocannabinol en el Cannabis: Mecanismos internos y factores ambientales-Una revisión sistemática] Abstract Context: The increasing demand...

The proportion of older adults using medical cannabis is rising. Most of the cannabinoid research has focused on a healthy, younger population free from frailty and major comorbidity. In this case report, we describe an 82-year-old woman who was autonomous in basic and instrumental activities of daily living and who came to our geriatric department...

The rapidly growing field of cannabinoid research is gaining recognition for its impact in neuropsychopharmacology and mood regulation. However, prenyltransferase (NphB) (a key enzyme in cannabinoid precursor synthesis) still needs significant improvement in order to be usable in large-scale industrial applications due to low activity and limited p...

The therapeutic application of cannabinoids has gained traction in recent years. Cannabinoids interact with the human endocannabinoid system in the skin. A large body of research indicates that cannabinoids could hold promise for the treatment of eczema, psoriasis, acne, pruritus, hair disorders, and skin cancer. However, most of the available data...

Cannabinoids are active substances present in plants of the Cannabis genus. Both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) have approved several medicinal products containing natural cannabinoids or their synthetic derivatives for the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy, nausea and vomiting associated with cancer c...

This review paper highlights about the story of the discovery of psychoactive constituent, Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) isolated from the Cannabis sativa (Marijuana or Drug type). Medical Cannabis sativa is also commonly known as Indian hemp, marijuana, Bhang, Ganja, and Charas, which are banned in India as an illicit drug. Sales and cultivation o...

Cannabis sativa L. is cultivated for several thousand years. Cannabinoid research has been started from the 1940s and more than 100 species are structurally determined in recent years. The biosynthetic research of cannabinoids started using labelled compounds, followed by the isolation and cloning of their biosynthetic enzymes. Among them tetrahydr...

Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) are regarded as the gold standard for clinical trials. While there are established standards to avoid unblinding, in RCTs using tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) containing cannabinoids, however, accidental unblinding and intentional self-unbinding must be considered as a particular issue, since THC...

Aim Structural elucidation and analytical characterization of six newly emerged synthetic cannabimimetics (SCs) carrying a cyclobutyl methyl (CBM) or a norbornyl methyl (NBM) side chain were performed within the ADEBAR project. Pharmacological evaluation allowed for estimating in vivo cannabimimetic activities as required in many countries for the...

Cannabis sativa contains more than 120 cannabinoids and 400 terpene compounds (i.e., phytomolecules) present in varying amounts. Cannabis is increasingly available for legal medicinal and non-medicinal use globally, and with increased access comes the need for a more comprehensive understanding of the pharmacology of phytomolecules. The main transd...

Background: Cannabis refers to a plant in the family Cannabaceae, which has been used medically, recreationally, and industrially. The last two decades, in particular, have seen a large increase in the volume of literature on this topic. The present bibliometric analysis aims to capture the characteristics of scholarly journal publications on the...

The traditional Cannabis plant as a medicinal crop has been explored for many thousands of years. The Cannabis industry is rapidly growing; therefore, optimising drying methods and producing high-quality medical products have been a hot topic in recent years. We systemically analysed the current literature and drew a critical summary of the drying...

Background: Migraine is a complex and highly disabling neurological disease whose treatment remains challenging in many patients, even after the recent advent of the first specific-preventive drugs, namely monoclonal antibodies that target calcitonin gene-related peptide. For this reason, headache researchers are actively searching for new therape...

Currently, peripheral tissue distribution of cannabinoids after treatment is poorly understood. This pilot study sought to examine the early tissue distribution of major cannabinoids 30 minutes following an intraperitoneal injection of vehicle (1:9 Tween 80/SAL), and doses of THC (1 mg/kg) and CBD (5 mg/kg) that are feasible for human consumption i...

Introduction: The legal and illicit use of cannabinoid-containing products is accelerating worldwide and is accompanied by increasing abuse problems. Due to legal issues, the USA will be entering a period of rapidly expanding recreational use of cannabinoids without the benefit of needed basic or clinical research. Most clinical cannabinoid resear...

With increased attention on cannabinoids in medicine, several mammalian model organisms have been used to elucidate their unknown pharmaceutical functions. However, many difficulties remain in mammalian research, which necessitates the development of non-mammalian model organisms for cannabinoid research. The authors suggest the tobacco hornworm Ma...

MicroED has recently emerged as a convenient and powerful tool for the unequivocal structure determination of small molecules and it could likely be used in cannabinoid research as well.

The field of cannabinoid research has been receiving ever-growing interest. Ongoing debates worldwide about the legislation of medical cannabis further motivates research into cannabinoid function within the central nervous system (CNS). To date, two well-characterized cannabinoid receptors exist. While most research has investigated Cb 1 receptors...

Prostate cancer is the second most frequently occurring cancer diagnosed among males. Recent preclinical evidence implicates cannabinoids as powerful regulators of cell growth and differentiation. In this review, we focused on studies that demonstrated anticancer effects of cannabinoids and their possible mechanisms of action in prostate cancer. Be...

Medical cannabis (MC) describes the usually inhaled or ingested use of a cannabis plant or cannabis extract for medicinal purposes. The action of whole cannabis plants is extremely complex because their large number of active compounds not only bind to a plethora of different receptors but also interact with each other both synergistically and othe...

Background: Cannabis refers to a flowering plant in the family Cannabaceae, which has been used medically, recreationally, and industrially. The history of cannabis has been both long and complex, however, the last few decades have seen a large increase in the volume of literature on this topic. The objective of the present bibliometric analysis is...

Every plant that has toxic substances, has its medicinal use questioned. However, being medicinal does not exempt it from adverse effects and toxicity. The differential between drug and toxic use is linked to the dosage, therapeutic destination and recognition of the pharmacological actions of the active principle. In this context, due to the liber...

There are two well-characterized cannabinoid receptors (CB1R and CB2R and other candidates): the central nervous system (CNS) enriched CB1R and peripheral tissue enriched CB2R with a wide dynamic range of expression levels in different cell types of human tissues. Hepatocytes and neurons express low baseline CB1R and CB2R, respectively, and their c...

Studies on cannabinoids that predate the identification of ∆ ⁹ -THC as the intoxicating constituents of recreational cannabis by Raphael Mechoulam in 1964 are reviewed, critically analyzing the controversies and faux pas that have characterized the early research in this area. Significant contributions to the elucidation of the signature molecular...

Background Up-to-date information regarding the scope and impact of cannabinoid use among persons with MS (PwMS) is necessary to guide clinical practice and cannabinoid research. Objectives To assess utilization patterns and perceived impact of cannabinoid use among a national cohort of PwMS. Methods Data collected were part of a nationwide surve...

Purpose of review: The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive update of the different known components of the endogenous cannabinoid system and the mechanisms of action, as it applies to analgesia. Recent findings: Following the discovery of the endogenous cannabinoid system in the early 1990s and the subsequent characterization of...

The therapeutic potential of cannabis has been harnessed for thousands of years yet the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has still not approved cannabis as a safe or effective drug. The FDA has, however, approved the manufacturing of pharmaceutical drugs, which contain a “synthetic version of a substance that is present in the marij...

Cannabinoid research requires the cooperation of experts from various field biochemistry and chemistry to psychological and social sciences. The data that have to be managed and analysed are highly heterogeneous, especially because they are provided by a very diverse range of sources. A number of approaches focused on data collection and the corres...

Generating amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) containing active pharmaceutical ingredients has become a favorable technique of emerging prominence to improve drug solubility and overall bioavailability. Cannabidiol (CBD) has now become a major focus in cannabinoid research due to its ability to serve as an anti-inflammatory agent, showing promising...

Linked Articles This article is part of a themed section on 8th European Workshop on Cannabinoid Research. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v176.10/issuetoc

Introduction: Over the past several years, a new class of psychoactive substances has emerged from the drug market.[1–3 www.emcdda.europa.eu/activities/action-on-new-drugs; Dolengevich-Segal H, Rodríguez Salgado B, Gómez Arnau J, et al. An approach to the new psychoactive drugs phenomenon. Salud Ment. 2017;40(2):71–82. Couceiro J, Bandarra S, Sulta...

The use of medical cannabis and cannabis-based medicines has received increasing interest in recent years; with a corresponding surge in the number of studies and reviews conducted in the field. Despite this growth in evidence, the findings and conclusions of these studies have been inconsistent. In this paper, we outline the current evidence for m...

Endocannabinoids are ancient biomolecules involved in several cellular (e.g., metabolism) and physiological (e.g., eating behaviour) functions. Indeed, eating behaviour alterations in marijuana users have led to investigate the orexigenic/anorexigenic effects of cannabinoids in animal/ human models. This increasing body of research suggests that th...

The paper presents an open source platform to integrate and analyse the cannabinoids research data gathered from academic publications, industrial and clinical trials as well as patients. The project focuses on the analysis of the usability aspects important for the applications collecting the treatment data as well as data on diverse cannabinoids...

Natural products are an abundant source of potential drugs, and their diversity makes them a rich and viable prospective source of bioactive cannabinoid ligands. Cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) antagonists are clinically established and well documented as potential therapeutics for treating obesity, obesity-related cardiometabolic disorders, pain, and...

Background and Purpose The endocannabinoids anandamide and 2‐arachidonoylglycerol (2‐AG) bind to CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors in the brain and modulate the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway. This neurocircuitry is engaged by psychostimulant drugs, including cocaine. Although CB1 receptor antagonism and CB2 receptor activation are known to inhibi...

Background and Purpose Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), caused by dystrophin deficiency, results in chronic inflammation and irreversible skeletal muscle degeneration. Moreover, the associated impairment of autophagy greatly contributes to the aggravation of muscle damage. We explored the possibility of using non‐euphoric compounds present in Can...

Background and Purpose Stress is known to reduce food intake. Many aspects of the stress response and feeding are regulated by the endocannabinoid system, but the roles of anandamide (AEA) and 2‐arachidonoyl glycerol (2‐AG) in stress‐induced anorexia are unclear. Experimental Approach Effects of acute restraint stress on endocannabinoids were inve...

Background and Purpose We sought to understand why (−)‐cannabidiol (CBD) and (−)‐cannabidiol‐dimethylheptyl (CBD‐DMH) exhibit distinct pharmacology, despite near identical structures. Experimental Approach HEK293A cells expressing either human type 1 cannabinoid (CB1) receptors or CB2 receptors were treated with CBD or CBD‐DMH with or without the...

The endocannabinoid system has emerged as an important target for the treatment of many diverse diseases. In addition to the well‐established palliative effects of cannabinoids in cancer therapy, phytocannabinoids, synthetic cannabinoid compounds and inhibitors of endocannabinoid degradation have attracted attention as possible systemic anticancer...

Background and Purpose The emotional processing and coordination of top‐down responses to noxious and conditioned aversive stimuli involves the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Evidence suggests that subregions of the mPFC [infralimbic (IfL), prelimbic (PrL) and anterior cingulate (ACC) cortices] differentially alter the expression of contextually...

At the beginning of the 21st century, the therapeutic management of neurodegenerative disorders remains a major biomedical challenge, particularly given the worldwide ageing of the population over the past 50 years that is expected to continue in the forthcoming years. This review will focus on the promise of cannabinoid‐based therapies to address...

Cell fate events are regulated by different endogenous developmental factors such as the cell micro‐environment, external or remote signals and epigenetic factors. Among the many regulatory factors, endocannabinoid‐associated signalling pathways are known to conduct several of these events in the developing nervous system and in the adult brain. In...

Chronic pain is a common cause of disability worldwide and remains a global health and socio‐economic challenge. Current analgesics are either ineffective in a significant proportion of patients with chronic pain or associated with significant adverse side effects. The PPARs, a family of nuclear hormone transcription factors, have emerged as import...

Maintenance of body weight is fundamental to maintain one’s health and to promote longevity. Nevertheless, it appears that the global obesity epidemic is still constantly increasing. Endocannabinoids (eCBs) are lipid messengers that are involved in overall body weight control by interfering with manifold central and peripheral regulatory circuits t...

Background and Purpose Cannabinoid CB2 receptors are up‐regulated in reactive microglia in the spinal cord of TDP‐43 (A315T) transgenic mice, an experimental model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. To determine whether this up‐regulation can be exploited pharmacologically, we investigated the effects of different treatments that affect CB2 receptor...

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common disease of joints, which are complex organs where cartilage, bone and synovium cooperate to allow a range of movements. During progression of the disease, the function of all three main components is jeopardized. Nevertheless, the involvement of each tissue in OA development is still not established and is the...

The endocannabinoid system is overactivated in arterial, pulmonary and portal hypertension. In this paper, we present limited clinical data concerning the role of cannabinoids in human hypertension including polymorphism of endocannabinoid system components. We underline differences between the acute cannabinoid administration and their potential h...

This review focuses on recent findings of the physiological and pharmacological role of non‐endocannabinoid N‐acylethanolamines (NAEs) and 2‐monoacylglycerols (2‐MAGs) in the intestine and their involvement in the gut‐brain signalling. Dietary fat suppresses food intake, and much research concerns the known gut peptides, for example, glucagon‐like...

Background and Purpose Numerous claims are made for cannabis' therapeutic utility upon human seizures, but concerns persist about risks. A potential confounder is the presence of both Δ⁹‐tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), variously reported to be pro‐ and anticonvulsant, and cannabidiol (CBD), widely confirmed as anticonvulsant. Therefore, we investigated...

Background and Purpose It has been suggested that the non‐euphorogenic phytocannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) can ameliorate adverse effects of Δ⁹‐tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). We determined whether CBD ameliorates cognitive deficits and withdrawal signs induced by cannabinoid CB1/CB2 receptor agonists or produces these pharmacological effects on its own...

Background and Purpose Endocannabinoids and related N‐acylethanolamines (NAEs) are involved in regulation of gut function, but relatively little is known as to whether inflammatory cytokines such as IFNγ affect their levels. We have investigated this in vitro using cultures of T84 colon cancer cells. Experimental Approach T84 cells, when cultured...

This short communication examines the question whether the experimental data presented in a study by Merrick et al. are of clinical relevance. These authors found that cannabidiol (CBD), a major cannabinoid of the cannabis plant devoid of psychotropic effects and of great interest for therapeutic use in several medical conditions, may be converted...

The first day included five oral sessions on the following subjects: (1) Medicinal Cannabis I, that featured six presentations and was chaired by Dr. Dror Robinson (HaSharon Hospital of Petah Tikwa, Israel) and Dr. Mark A. Ware (McGill University of Montreal, Canada); the latter also delivered the inaugural talk on “Pharmacovigilance of medical can...

Dr. Ethan Russo, MD, is a board-certified neurologist, psychopharmacology researcher, and Medical Director of PHYTECS, a biotechnology company researching and developing innovative approaches targeting the human endocannabinoid system. Previously, from 2003 to 2014, he served as Senior Medical Advisor and study physician to GW Pharmaceuticals for t...

This perspective was adapted from a Career Achievement Award talk given at the International Cannabinoid Research Society Symposium in Bukovina, Poland on June 27, 2016. As a biochemist working in the neurosciences, I was always fascinated with neurotransmitter inactivation. In 1993 we identified an enzyme activity that breaks down anandamide. We c...

This perspective was adapted from a Career Achievement Award talk given at the International Cannabinoid Research Society Symposium in Bukovina, Poland on June 27, 2016. As a biochemist working in the neurosciences, I was always fascinated with neurotransmitter inactivation. In 1993 we identified an enzyme activity that breaks down anandamide. We c...

Background: The valley of death, which refers to the gap due to the lack of support for the translation of basic research to related clinical studies, exists in the field of translational cannabinoid research in Japan owing to regulations. Article 4 of the Cannabis Control Act (CCA) of 1948 prohibits the use of Cannabis-based medicines. Objectives:...

The joint 7th European Workshop on Cannabinoid Research and IACM 8th Conference on Cannabinoids in Medicine was held in the beach town of Sestri Levante, Italy, on September 17–19, 2015. In this beautiful setting, world-leading investigators in the field of (endo)cannabinoid research presented exciting new data spanning a broad array of preclinical...

Many psychoactive remedies of the ancient world have found their way into modern medical science—think about Papaver somniferum (opium), Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade), and Erythroxylum coca (coca), just to cite a few. However, not Cannabis. Largely ignored by Greco–Roman physicians and their Renaissance followers, the plant made a timid rea...

Cannabinoids are a group of terpenophenolic compounds present in Cannabis (Cannabis sativa L). The broader definition of cannabinoids refers to a group of substances that are structurally related to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) or that bind to cannabinoid receptors. Before the 1980’s, it was often speculated that cannabinoids produced thei...

Neurodegenerative disease processes such as glaucoma, Alzheimer’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease have a significant impact on the visual system early in the disease process. The deficits these diseases cause impact pathways that are not readily detected during traditional tests of acuity, but none the less have repercussions fo...

The physiological and behavioral effects of stress are well characterized. Endocannabinoids are produced on demand and function to attenuate many of the physiological effects of the stress response. The endocannabinoid system is made up of cannabinoid receptors, the fatty acid signaling molecules that bind to and activate these receptors, and the e...

The psychoactive component of the cannabis resin and flowers, delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), was first isolated in 1964, and at least 70 other structurally related 'phytocannabinoid' compounds have since been identified. The serendipitous identification of a G-protein-coupled cannabinoid receptor at which THC is active in the brain heralded an...

The discovery of cannabinoid receptors and subsequent identification of their endogenous ligands (endocannabinoids) in early 1990s have greatly accelerated research on cannabinoid actions in the brain. Then, the discovery in 2001 that endocannabinoids mediate retrograde synaptic signaling has opened up a new era for cannabinoid research and also es...

Cannabinoids have been used medicinally and recreationally for thousands of years and their effects were proposed to occur mainly via activation of the G-protein-coupled receptor CB1/CB2 (cannabinoid receptor 1/2). Discovery of potent synthetic analogs of the natural cannabinoids as clinically useful drugs is the sustained aim of cannabinoid resear...

Presently, there are numerous structural classes of cannabinoid receptor agonists, all of which require solubilization for experimental purposes. One strategy for solubilizing water-insoluble tetrahydrocannabinols is conversion of the phenolic hydroxyl to a morpholinobutyryloxy substituent. The hydrochloride salts of these analogs are water-soluble...

In the absence of any specific behavioral assay for cannabinoids or endocannabinoids, a cannabinoid-induced profile in a series of four in vivo assays in mice is most commonly used to assess a specific cannabinoid activity at the behavioral level. Thus, when a given compound produces motor depression in an open field, catalepsy on an elevated ring,...

Endogenous cannabinoids and cannabinoid receptors are involved in retrograde messaging in neurons, a system believed to be restricted to the vertebrate nervous system. However, recent studies have begun to find evidence of both endogenous cannabinoids and their receptors in some invertebrates as well as at the neuromuscular junction of vertebrates....

. Cannabis has an ancient tradition of usage as a medicine in obstetrics and gynecology. This study presents that history in the literature to the present era, compares it to current ethnobotanical, clinical and epide-miological reports, and examines it in light of modern developments in cannabinoid research. The author believes that cannabis extra...

Introduction: Decades of research on cannabidiol (CBD) have identified thousands of purported cellular effects, and many of these have been proposed to correlate with a vast therapeutic potential. Yet despite the large volume of findings fueling broad optimism in this regard, few have translated into any demonstrable clinical benefit or even notab...

Background: Although the majority of cannabinoid research has focused on delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), there is increasing interest in the therapeutic effects of other phytocannabinoid compounds (i.e., minor cannabinoids), as there is little known about their effects or interaction with CBD. The current study objectiv...

Introduction: This review highlights the critical role of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in regulating neuropathic pain and explores the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids. Understanding the mechanisms of the ECS, including its receptors, endogenous ligands, and enzymatic routes, can lead to innovative treatments for chronic pain, offering mo...

Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is a psychoactive phytocannabinoid found in the Cannabis sativa plant. THC is primarily metabolized into 11-hydroxy-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (11-OH-THC) and 11-nor-9-carboxy-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (COOH-THC), that may themselves be psychoactive. There is very little research-based evidence concerning the pharmacokineti...

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has a broad interest in the study of the biological activities of natural products with a strong research emphasis on products for which there is compelling preclinical evidence for potential biological activity that may lea...

PURPOSE To guide clinicians, adults with cancer, caregivers, researchers, and oncology institutions on the medical use of cannabis and cannabinoids, including synthetic cannabinoids and herbal cannabis derivatives; single, purified cannabinoids; combinations of cannabis ingredients; and full-spectrum cannabis. METHODS A systematic literature revie...

The cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1R) is one of the central elements of the endocannabinoid system regulating a variety of signaling cascades. Extensive efforts on CB1R have validated its essential roles in physiology such as appetite regulation, pain perception, memory formation, and thermoregulation. Yet, there is a surprising lack of clear unde...

Introduction: This review aims to provide an overview of the advancements and status of clinical studies and potential permeation-enhancing strategies in the transdermal delivery of cannabinoids. Methods: A systematic and comprehensive literature search across academic databases, search engines, and online sources to identify relevant literature on...

Several studies performed on human subjects have examined the effects of adolescent cannabis consumption on brain structure or function using brain imaging techniques. However, the evidence from these studies is usually heterogenous and affected by several confounding variables. Animal models of adolescent cannabinoid exposure may help to overcome...

Aims: This study established the in vitro anti-lymphoma pharmacodynamic actions of the endocannabinoids (anandamide-AEA and 2-arachidonoylglycerol-2AG) on canine non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and human NHL cells. Main methods: The expression of cannabinoid (CB1 and CB2) receptors in various canine NHL cells {1771, CLBL-1, CLL-1, peripheral blood mo...

Introduction Medicinal cannabis is often cited as a popular alternative to common sleep aids; however, there are limited studies using complex sleep EEG methods examining its’ effects in insomnia disorder. Methods Twenty participants (16 female; mean [SD] age, 47.1 [8.7] years) with insomnia disorder (mean ISI=20.8) completed two 24-hour in-labora...

During the last decades, the cannabinoid research for therapeutic purposes has been rapidly advancing, with an ever-growing body of evidence of beneficial effects for a wide sort of conditions, including those related to mucosal and epithelial homeostasis, inflammatory processes, immune responses, nociception, and modulating cell differentiation. β...

Cannabinoid research depends on synthesizing derivatives for structure-activity relationship studies. (-)-Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol were synthesized via a tandem enantioselective conjugate addition/enolate alkylation annulation with a novel ambiphilic trifluoroborate in seven steps. A new class of alkenyl and aryl ambiphilic trifluoro...

The dad of endocannabinoid system: Prof. Raphael Mechoulam; his fan, Asso. Prof. Dr. Isaac Karimi, a cannabinoid researcher; ANANDAMIDE, an endocannabinoid, and THC, a cannabinoid, are recorded in one image.

The use of cannabis spans thousands of years and encompasses almost all dimensions of the human experience, including consumption for recreational, religious, social, and medicinal purposes. Its use in the management of pain has been anecdotally described for millennia. However, an evidence base has only developed over the last 100 years, with an e...

This meeting report describes the University of California's (UC) Cannabis Research Workshop on May 26-27, 2021, which was organized by the UC Office of the President (UCOP) in partnership with the University of California, Davis (UCD). The event was designed to explore ways to strengthen research collaborations within and between campuses, discuss...

The endocannabinoid system is widely expressed both in the brain and in the periphery. This system regulates a plethora of physiological functions and is composed of cannabinoid receptors, their endogenous ligands, and the enzymes involved in their metabolic processes. In the last few years, the development of new imaging and molecular tools has de...

Background Purpose of the present systematic review is to investigate preclinical evidence in favor of the working hypothesis of efficacy of cannabinoids in ocular pain treatment. Methods Literature search includes the most relevant repositories for medical scientific literature from inception until November, 24 2021. Data collection and selection...

Significant changes have occurred in the policy landscape surrounding cannabis legalization, production, and use around the globe and across the United States. With widespread availability of novel cannabis and cannabis-based products, there is an urgent need to understand their safety and effectiveness for medical indications. Three primary barrie...

The landscape of both recreational and medicinal cannabis use has changed dramatically over the past decade; however, research examining the risks and benefits of cannabis and cannabinoid use has lagged significantly behind the increased media promotion and their use by the general public and cancer patients. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has...

Cannabis is the most commonly used psychotropic drug in the United States, after alcohol. Despite its apparent sedative and calming effects, cannabis and its main psychoactive constituent, ∆⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can produce serious adverse effects including tachycardia and anxiety. These effects can be especially pronounced in women, who rem...

The primary psychoactive component of cannabis, Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) impairs cognitive function and psychomotor performance, particularly for complex tasks like piloting an aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Forensic Sciences Section at the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (Oklahoma City, OK) performs toxicological anal...

The development of medical cannabis clinics has emerged in recent years to meet needs from patients and healthcare practitioners amid changing medical cannabis regulations. As more countries are approving the use of cannabinoids for medical purposes, demand for access has increased but has not yet matched medical cannabis training. In countries whe...

Just over 20 years ago, cannabinoid research focused on single compounds, such as Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN), etc. This is a common research paradigm for compounds which can be inexpensively isolated from their parent material. However, over the last decade, the arc of cannabinoid research has shifted to...

The potential use of cannabinoids for therapeutic purposes is at the forefront of cannabinoid research which aims to develop innovative strategies to prevent, manage and treat a broad spectrum of human diseases. This chapter briefly reviews the pivotal role of the endocannabinoid system in modulating the central nervous system and its roles on neur...

The medicolegal landscape of cannabis continues to change, and with ever increasing access there has been a concurrent proliferation of research seeking to understand the utility of cannabinoids in treating innumerable conditions with pain at the forefront. This article seeks to summarize clinically relevant findings in cannabinoid research to bett...