Does irisin mediate metabolic effects of androgen deficiency? A cross-sectional study in men with chronic spinal cord injury.

Study Design: Retrospective study.

Objectives: To check the hypothesis that irisin could mediate systemic metabolic effects of testosterone in men with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI).

Setting: Spinal Unit of the San Raffaele Institute in Sulmona.

FAAH Inhibition Counteracts Neuroinflammation via Autophagy Recovery in AD Models.

Endocannabinoids have attracted great interest for their ability to counteract the neuroinflammation underlying Alzheimer's disease (AD). Our study aimed at evaluating whether this activity was also due to a rebalance of autophagic mechanisms in cellular and animal models of AD. We supplied URB597, an inhibitor of Fatty-Acid Amide Hydrolase (FAAH), the degradation enzyme of anandamide, to microglial cultures treated with Aβ, and to Tg2576 transgenic mice, thus increasing the endocannabinoid tone.

Alterations of endocannabinoid signaling and microglia reactivity in the retinas of AD-like mice precede the onset of hippocampal β-amyloid plaques.

Extra-cerebral manifestations of Alzheimer's disease (AD) develop in the retina, which is, therefore, considered a "window to the brain". Recent studies demonstrated the dysregulation of the endocannabinoid (eCB) system (ECS) in AD brain. Here, we explored the possible alterations of ECS and the onset of gliosis in the retina of AD-like mice.

Visualization of membrane localization and the functional state of CBR pools using matched agonist and inverse agonist probe pairs.

The diversity of physiological roles of the endocannabinoid system has turned it into an attractive yet elusive therapeutic target. However, chemical probes with various functionalities could pave the way for a better understanding of the endocannabinoid system at the cellular level. Notably, inverse agonists of CBR - a key receptor of the endocannabinoid system - lagged behind despite the evidence regarding the therapeutic potential of its antagonism.

Cannabinol modulates the endocannabinoid system and shows TRPV1-mediated anti-inflammatory properties in human keratinocytes.

Cannabinol (CBN) is a secondary metabolite of cannabis whose beneficial activity on inflammatory diseases of human skin has attracted increasing attention. Here, we sought to investigate the possible modulation by CBN of the major elements of the endocannabinoid system (ECS), in both normal and lipopolysaccharide-inflamed human keratinocytes (HaCaT cells). CBN was found to increase the expression of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB) at gene level and that of vanilloid receptor 1 (TRPV1) at protein level, as well as their functional activity.