Cannabinoid receptors are able to couple to different families of G proteins when activated by an agonist drug. It has been suggested that different intracellular responses may be activated depending on the ligand. The goal of the present study was to characterize the pattern of G protein subunit stimulation triggered by three different cannabinoid ligands, Δ9-THC, WIN55212-2, and ACEA in mouse...

Individuals who work nonstandard schedules, such as rotating or night shifts, are more susceptible to workplace injuries, performance decrements, and reduced productivity. This population is also almost twice as likely to use illicit drugs as individuals working a standard day shift. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of smoked marijuana on performance, mood, and sleep during ...

A new high-throughput liquid chromatography / tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for the quantification of Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in suspect plant material and of its principal metabolite, 11-nor-9carboxy-Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH), in human urine was developed and validated. The separation was performed on a Zorbax SB-C18 column under isocratic conditions using a mixture o...

Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid A (THCA-A) is the acidic precursor of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive compound found in Cannabis sativa. THCA-A is biosynthesized and accumulated in glandular trichomes present on flowers and leaves, where it serves protective functions and can represent up to 90% of the total THC contained in the plant. THCA-A slowly decarboxylates to form TH...

(1) Background: Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) are emerging drugs of abuse sold as ‘K2’, ‘K9’ or ‘Spice’. Evidence shows that using SCs products leads to greater health risks than cannabis. They have been associated with toxicity and higher addiction potential unrelated the primary psychoactive component marijuana, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC). Moreover, early cases intoxication death related...

Adrenomedullary chromaffin cells represent an excellent model to study the molecular events linked to exocytosis, because they use the same type of SNAREs for vesicle docking and fusion as neurons. In these cells, both in the intact tissue and in isolated cells in culture, syntaxin-1 and SNAP-25 are present in the plasmalemma unevenly distributed in patches, even when exogenous t-SNAREs are exp...

Sophorolipids are a group of O-acylsophorose-based biosurfactants produced by several yeasts of the Starmerella clade. The known sophorolipids are typically partially acetylated 2-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-D-glucopyranose (sophorose) O-β-glycosidically linked to 17-L-hydroxy-Δ9-octadecenoic acid, where the acyl carboxyl group often forms a 4″-lactone to the terminal glucosyl residue. In a recent MAL...