Lipid mediators are a class of signaling molecules that play important roles in various physiological processes, including inflammation, blood pressure regulation, and energy metabolism. Exercise has been shown to affect the production metabolism several types lipid mediators, prostaglandins, leukotrienes, sphingolipids, platelet-activating factors endocannabinoids. Eicosanoids, which include p...

AIMS Endocannabinoids are endogenous compounds that bind to the same receptors as tetrahydrocannabinol, the active component in marijuana and hashish. They have been found to have many physiological and patho-physiological functions, including mood alteration, control of feeding and appetite, motor and co-ordination activities, analgesia, immune modulation and gut motility. In this review we ai...

Bioactive lipid molecules as lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), prostaglandins (PG) and endocannabinoids are important mediators of embryo implantation. Based on previous published data we became interested in studying the interaction between these three groups of lipid derivatives in the rat uterus during the window of implantation. Thus, we adopted a pharmacological approach in vitro using LPA, DGP...

Considerable progress has been made, recently, in understanding the role of the endocannabinoid system in regard to neuroprotection. Endogenous cannabinoids have received increasing attention as potential protective agents in several cases of neuronal injury. The endocannabinoid system is comprised of cannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2), their endogenous ligands (endocannabinoids) and proteins ...

Endocannabinoids are key modulators of synaptic function. By activating cannabinoid receptors expressed in the central nervous system, these lipid messengers can regulate several neural functions and behaviors. As experimental tools advance, the repertoire of known endocannabinoid-mediated effects at the synapse, and their underlying mechanism, continues to expand. Retrograde signaling is the p...

Endocannabinoids act as retrograde signals to modulate synaptic transmission. Little is known, however, about their significance in integrated network activity underlying motor behavior. We have examined the physiological effects of endocannabinoids in a neuronal network underlying locomotor behavior using the isolated lamprey spinal cord. Our results show that endocannabinoids are released dur...

Endocannabinoids are retrograde messengers released by neurons to modulate the strength of their synaptic inputs. Endocannabinoids are thought to mediate the suppression of GABA release that follows depolarization of a hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neuron-termed "depolarization-induced suppression of inhibition" (DSI). Here, we report that DSI is absent in mice which lack cannabinoid receptor-1 (CB...