An improved understanding of the endocannabinoid system has provided new avenues of drug discovery and development toward the management of pain and other behavioral maladies. Exogenous cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor agonists such as Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol are increasingly used for their medicinal actions; however, their utility is constrained by concern regarding abuse-related subjective e...

AIMS We investigated the influence of type one cannabinoid receptor (CB1) deficiency on acute heart failure (AHF) and the underlying mechanism. Acute heart failure syndrome is an important clinical problem because of its high morbidity and mortality rates. Activation of CB1 induces vascular dilation and reinforces the properties of morphine, long-standing therapies for AHF syndrome, but the eff...

Cannabis sativa is the source of a unique set of compounds known collectively as plant cannabinoids or phytocannabinoids. This review focuses on the manner with which three of these compounds, ( )-trans-D-tetrahydrocannabinol (D-THC), ( )cannabidiol (CBD) and ( )-trans-D-tetrahydrocannabivarin (D-THCV), interact with cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors. D-THC, the main psychotropic constituent of...

Cannabinoid receptors 1 and 2 (CB1 CB2, respectively) play an important role in maintaining the integrity of blood–brain barrier (BBB). On other hand, BBB dysfunction is a common feature drug-resistant epilepsy. The focus present study was to characterize protein expression levels Gαi/o protein-induced activation by CB1 CB2 microvascular endothelial cells (MECs) isolated from brain patients wit...

Morphine induces adaptive changes in gene expression throughout the reward circuitry of brain. Recent research has proven the functional interactions between opioid and endogenous cannabinoid system in the central nervous system (CNS). The cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1-R) is one of the receptors that mediate the actions of cannabinoids and endocannabinoids in the CNS. Here, we investigated the ex...

OBJECTIVE Cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor blockade decreases body weight and adiposity in obese subjects; however, the underlying mechanism is not yet fully understood. Nitric oxide (NO) produced by endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) induces mitochondrial biogenesis and function in adipocytes. This study was undertaken to test whether CB1 receptor blockade increases the espression of eNOS and mit...

Corneal epithelial injury induces release of endogenous metabolites that are cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) agonists. We determined the functional contributions by CB1 and TRPV1 activation to eliciting responses underlying wound healing in human corneal epithelial cells (HCEC). Both the selective CB1 and TRPV1 agonists (i.e., WIN55,212-2 [WIN] ...

Mammalian tissues express at least two types of cannabinoid receptor, CB1 and CB2, both G protein coupled. CB1 receptors are expressed predominantly at nerve terminals where they mediate inhibition of transmitter release. CB2 receptors are found mainly on immune cells, one of their roles being to modulate cytokine release. Endogenous ligands for these receptors (endocannabinoids) also exist. Th...

Cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptors are expressed in the nervous and cardiovascular systems. In mice, CB1 receptor deficiency protects from metabolic consequences of a high-fat diet (HFD), increases sympathetic activity to brown fat, and entails sleep anomalies. We investigated whether sleep-wake and diet-dependent cardiorespiratory control is altered in mice lacking CB1 receptors. CB1 receptor ...

Cannabinoids are the most popular illicit drugs used for recreational purposes worldwide. However, the neurobiological substrate of their mood-altering capacity has not been elucidated so far. Here we report that CB1 cannabinoid receptors are expressed at high levels in certain amygdala nuclei, especially in the lateral and basal nuclei, but are absent in other nuclei (e.g., in the central nucl...