Although adverse effects of cannabinoids on pregnancy have been indicated for many years, the mechanisms by which they exert their actions were not clearly understood. Only recently, molecular and biochemical approaches have led to the identification of two types of cannabinoid receptors, brain-type receptors (CB1-R) and spleen-type receptors (CB2-R), which mediate cannabinoid effects. These fi...

BACKGROUND Since the discovery of the cannabinoid receptors, numerous studies associate the endocannabinoid system with several physiological and pathological processes including cancer, appetite, fertility, memory, neuropathic and inflammatory pain, obesity, and neurodegenerative diseases. Over the last two decades, several researches have been dedicated extensively on the cannabinoid receptor...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The non-psychotropic cannabinoid cannabichromene is known to activate the transient receptor potential ankyrin-type1 (TRPA1) and to inhibit endocannabinoid inactivation, both of which are involved in inflammatory processes. We examined here the effects of this phytocannabinoid on peritoneal macrophages and its efficacy in an experimental model of colitis. EXPERIMENTAL A...

Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) learn vocal behavior during sensitive developmental periods, similar to the way in which human language is acquired. As adults, they recite the learned song pattern in a stereotyped manner. Previously, we demonstrated that central nervous system-associated cannabinoid receptors (CB1) are expressed in brain regions known to control both juvenile song learning ...

Endogenous and synthetic cannabinoids exert antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects in various types of cancer and in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). In this study, we evaluated the expression of cannabinoid receptors type 1 and type 2 (CB1 and CB2) in non-Hodgkin lymphomas of B cell type (n = 62). A majority of the lymphomas expressed higher mRNA levels of CB1 and/or CB2 as compared to reactive...

Cannabinoids exert pleiotropic actions in the CNS, including the inhibition of inflammatory responses and the enhancement of neuronal survival after injury. Although cannabinoid receptors are distributed widely in brain, their presence has not been investigated previously in oligodendrocytes. This study examined the expression of cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptors in rat oligodendrocytes in viv...

Joint pain is a common clinical problem for which both inflammatory and degenerative joint diseases are major causes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors in the behavioral, histological, and neurochemical alterations associated with joint pain. The murine model of monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) was used to induce joint pain in knockout mice f...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE A nonpsychoactive constituent of the cannabis plant, cannabidiol has been demonstrated to have low affinity for both cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors. We have shown previously that cannabidiol can enhance electrically evoked contractions of the mouse vas deferens, suggestive of inverse agonism. We have also shown that cannabidiol can antagonize cannabinoid receptor agoni...

In light of the adverse side-effects of opioids, cannabinoid receptor agonists may provide an effective alternative for the treatment of cancer pain. This study examined the potency and efficacy of synthetic CB1 and CB2 receptor agonists in a murine model of tumor pain. Intraplantar injection of the CB1 receptor agonist arachidonylcyclopropylamide (ED(50) of 18.4 μg) reduced tumor-related mecha...

Cannabinoid compounds have been shown to produce antinociception and antihyperalgesia by acting upon cannabinoid receptors located in both the CNS and the periphery. A potential mechanism by which cannabinoids could inhibit nociception in the periphery is the activation of cannabinoid receptors located on one or more classes of primary nociceptive neurons. To address this hypothesis, we evaluat...