Background And Purpose: Many young people consume ecstasy as a recreational drug and often in combination with cannabis. In this study, we aimed to mimic human consumption patterns and investigated, in male and female animals, the long-term effects of Δ(9) -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on diverse neuroinflammation and neurotoxic markers.
Experimental Approach: Male and female Wistar rats were chronically treated with increasing doses of THC and/or MDMA during adolescence. The effects of THC and/or MDMA on glial reactivity and on serotoninergic and cannabinoid systems were assessed by immunohistochemistry in the hippocampus and parietal cortex.
Key Results: THC increased the area staining for glial fibrilar acidic protein in both sexes. In males, both drugs, either separately or in combination, increased the proportion of reactive microglia cells [ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba-1)]. In contrast, in females, each drug, administered alone, decreased of this proportion, whereas the combination of both drugs resulted in a 'normalization' to control values. In males, MDMA reduced the number of SERT positive fibres, THC induced the opposite effect and the group receiving both drugs did not significantly differ from the controls. In females, MDMA reduced the number of SERT positive fibres and the combination of both drugs counteracted this effect. THC also reduced immunostaining for CB1 receptors in females and this effect was aggravated by the combination with MDMA.
Conclusions And Implications: Adolescent exposure of rats to THC and/or MDMA induced long-term, sex-dependent neurochemical and glial alterations, and revealed interactions between the two drugs.
Linked Articles: This article is part of a themed section on Cannabinoids 2013. To view the other articles in this section visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bph.2014.171.issue-6.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3954483 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bph.12519 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
∆-Tetrahydrocannabinol Increases Growth Factor Release by Cultured Adipose Stem Cells and Adipose Tissue in vivo.
Tissue Eng Regen Med
January 2025
Department of Plastic Surgery, Hand Surgery-Burn Center, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany.
Background: Because of its biocompatibility and its soft and dynamic nature, the grafting of adipose tissue is regarded an ideal technique for soft-tissue repair. The adipose stem cells (ASCs) contribute significantly to the regenerative potential of adipose tissue, because they can differentiate into adipocytes and release growth factors for tissue repair and neovascularization to facilitate tissue survival. The present study tested the effect of administering a chronic low dose of ∆-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on these regenerative properties, in vitro and in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF[Impact of dronabinol shortage on a population of chronic pain patients: A retrospective observational study].
Therapie
January 2025
Service de pharmacie clinique, pôle 8 cancérologie et spécialités médicales, centre hospitalier de Valenciennes, 59300 Valenciennes, France.
Objective: A supply shortage of dronabinol occurred between December 2023 and February 2024, forcing chronic pain patients to discontinue this treatment. We assessed the impact of this shortage on patients in our hospital.
Method: A retrospective observational study of patients treated with dronabinol was conducted.
Muscarinic cannabinoid suppression of excitation, a novel form of coincidence detection.
Pharmacol Res
January 2025
Gill Institute for Neuroscience; Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405. Electronic address:
Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chief psychoactive ingredient of cannabis, acts in the brain primarily via cannabinoid CB1 receptors. These receptors are implicated in several forms of synaptic plasticity - depolarization-induced suppression of excitation (DSE), metabotropic suppression of excitation (MSE), long term depression (LTD) and activation-dependent desensitization. Cultured autaptic hippocampal neurons express all of these, illustrating the rich functional and temporal heterogeneity of CB1 at a single set of synapses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCannabis vaping elicits transcriptomic and metabolomic changes in inflammatory, oxidative stress and cancer pathways in human bronchial epithelial cells.
Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol
January 2025
Research Institute of the, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada.
The increasing shift from cannabis smoking to cannabis vaping is largely driven by the perception that vaping to form an aerosol represents a safer alternative to smoking and is a form of consumption appealing to youth. Herein, we compared the chemical composition and receptor-mediated activity of cannabis smoke extract (CaSE) to cannabis vaping extract (CaVE) along with the biological response in human bronchial epithelial cells. Chemical analysis using HPLC and GC/MS revealed that cannabis vaping aerosol contained fewer toxicants than smoke; CaSE and CaVE contained teratogens, carcinogens, and respiratory toxicants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrief exposure to (-) THC affects zebrafish embryonic locomotion with effects that persist into the next generation.
Sci Rep
January 2025
Departments of Biological Sciences CW-405 Biological Sciences Building, University of Alberta Edmonton, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada.
Cannabis is one of the most widely used drugs, and yet an understanding of its impact on the human brain and body is inconclusive. Medicinal and recreational use of cannabis has increased in the last decade with a concomitant increase in use by pregnant women. The major psychoactive compound in cannabis, Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), exists in different isomers, with the (-) trans isomer most common.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!