BACKGROUND Cannabinoids bind to cannabinoid receptors type 1 and 2 and produce analgesia in several pain models, but central side effects from cannabinoid 1 receptors limit their clinical use. Cannabinoid 2 receptors reduce inflammatory responses in the periphery by acting on immune cells, and they are present on glia in the central nervous system. This study tested whether spinal cannabinoid a...

The CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors are members of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family that are pharmacologically well defined. However, the discovery of additional sites of action for endocannabinoids as well as synthetic cannabinoid compounds suggests the existence of additional cannabinoid receptors. Here we review this evidence, as well as the current nomenclature for classifying...

There are at least two types of cannabinoid receptors (CB(1) and CB(2)). Ligands activating these G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) include the phytocannabinoid Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol, numerous synthetic compounds, and endogenous compounds known as endocannabinoids. Cannabinoid receptor antagonists have also been developed. Some of these ligands activate or block one type of cannabinoid re...

Cannabinoid receptors play key roles in brain function, and cannabinoid effects in brain physiology and drug-related behavior are thought to be mediated by receptors present in neurons. Neuron-astrocyte communication relies on the expression by astrocytes of neurotransmitter receptors. Yet, the expression of cannabinoid receptors by astrocytes in situ and their involvement in the neuron-astrocy...

Human tissues express cannabinoid CB(1) and CB(2) receptors that can be activated by endogenously released 'endocannabinoids' or exogenously administered compounds in a manner that reduces the symptoms or opposes the underlying causes of several disorders in need of effective therapy. Three medicines that activate cannabinoid CB(1)/CB(2) receptors are now in the clinic: Cesamet (nabilone), Mari...

Marijuana is the most commonly abused drug in the United States.1 It mainly acts on cannabinoid receptors. There are two types of cannabinoid receptors in humans: cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) and cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2). CB1 receptor activation is pro-atherogenic, and CB2 receptor activation is largely anti-atherogenic. Marijuana use is also implicated as a trigger for myocardial...

introduction: nucleus cuneiformis (ncf), as part of descending pain inhibitory system, cooperates with periaqueductal gray (pag) and rostral ventromedial medulla (rvm) in supraspinal modulation of pain. cannabinoids have analgesic effects in the pag, rvm and ncf. the transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1(trpv1) can be activated by anandamide and win55,212-2 as a cannabinoid receptor ago...

Previous evidence suggests that the endogenous cannabinoid system could emerge and be operative early during brain development. In the present study, we have explored the distribution of specific binding for cannabinoid receptors in rat brain at gestational day 21 (GD21), postnatal days 5 (PND5) and 30 (PND30), and at adult age (> 70 days after birth) by using autoradiography with [3H]CP-55,940...

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For over a decade, until recently, it was thought that marijuana acts by activating brain-type cannabinoid receptors called CB1, and that a second type called CB2 cannabinoid receptor was found only in peripheral tissues. Neuronal CB2 receptors in the brain had been controversial. We reported the discovery and functional presence of CB2 cannabinoid receptors in the mammalian brain that may be i...