Marijuana Compounds Show Promise In Protecting Brain Cells From Alzheimer's
32 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Some potentially good news about cannabis compounds is wafting from the Salk Institute labs in San Diego. Researchers discovered that the main psychoactive compound in marijuana—tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—and a few other active compounds remove amyloid beta proteins from lab-grown neurons. Amyloid is the toxic protein known to accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. The compounds also significantly reduced cellular inflammation, an underlying factor in the disease’s progression.
This isn’t the first study to investigate whether the active compounds in cannabis might play a role in battling Alzheimer’s, but it’s the first to find a double-tap effect against both amyloid beta proteins and inflammation.
“Although other studies have offered evidence that cannabinoids might be neuroprotective against the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, we believe our study is the first to demonstrate that cannabinoids affect both inflammation and amyloid beta accumulation in nerve cells,” said Professor David Schubert, senior author of the study, in a Salk Institute press release.
The brain produces its own cannabis-like molecules, endocannabinoids, which play a signaling role between cells, but also seem to protect nerve cells from inflammatory amyloid damage. THC in cannabis activates the same receptors as the body’s endocannabinoids.
“Inflammation within the brain is a major component of the damage associated with Alzheimer’s disease, but it has always been assumed that this response was coming from immune-like cells in the brain, not the nerve cells themselves,” said Antonio Currais, a postdoctoral researcher in Schubert’s laboratory and first author of the paper. “When we were able to identify the molecular basis of the inflammatory response to amyloid beta, it became clear that THC-like compounds that the nerve cells make themselves may be involved in protecting the cells from dying.”[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2016/07/05/marijuana-compounds-show-promise-in-protecting-brain-cells-from-alzheimers/#f30ac9675abf[/url]
It's great that research is being carried out despite the stigmas
These are very good news.
It's a little funny that a drug known for impairing memory could potentially lead to a cure for alzheimer's
i still can't believe weed is illegal in most parts of the world
Ganja is healthy and it makes you smart.
My granddad had Alzheimer, it got so bad that he started to hallucinate and speak with already deceased people.
Aaaand I smoke occasionally and it makes me feel much better mentally. Though if I smoke too much, my memory deteriorates again.
Anything considered poisonous can be medicinal in the right amounts and vice versa. It's all about balance.
[QUOTE=Saturn V;51005589]i still can't believe weed is illegal in most parts of the world[/QUOTE]
If alcohol was discovered just today it would be considered a class A drug. It's banned because the current social climate is one of anti-drugs, it would not be profitable for most governments to legalise and tax it. I would wager that the cost of enforcing the legal side would outweigh the tax profits, or at least a report show that as an estimate and it's all the politicians are willing to go on. Not to mention the outrage that would occur from legalising drugs, unfortunately the most reactionary people are those most likely to vote and that's all politicians care about.
profits would be huge if cannabis would be legalized & taxed.
This has nothing to do with legalizing weed and it shouldnt.
They should make this into pill form and get rid of the high marijuana gives.
[QUOTE=thisguy123;51006088]If alcohol was discovered just today it would be considered a class A drug. It's banned because the current social climate is one of anti-drugs, it would not be profitable for most governments to legalise and tax it. I would wager that the cost of enforcing the legal side would outweigh the tax profits, or at least a report show that as an estimate and it's all the politicians are willing to go on. Not to mention the outrage that would occur from legalising drugs, unfortunately the most reactionary people are those most likely to vote and that's all politicians care about.[/QUOTE]
What. It's way more expensive to enforce when it's illegal than when it's legal. It would free up police resources. Also check profits in Colorado.
Politicians never put up tax income estimates as a way to counter all the arguments for why it should be legal, at least not here. It's always fearmongering and misinformed arguments.
Also outrage? In Denmark like half the population thinks it should be legal.
[editline]5th September 2016[/editline]
[QUOTE=Tasm;51006142]This has nothing to do with legalizing weed and it shouldnt.
They should make this into pill form and get rid of the high marijuana gives.[/QUOTE]
Read the article. Specifically says it's THC, and a few other cannabinoids that act on the endocannabinoid system. Which is what gets you high.
Also look up Marinol - THC in a pill. That shit gets you high though, cause that's what high-affinity agonists do at the cannabinoid receptor sites.
[QUOTE=Dutch Flowers;51005628]Ganja is healthy and it makes you smart.[/QUOTE]
lol
[QUOTE=Dutch Flowers;51005628]Ganja is healthy and it makes you smart.[/QUOTE]
No need to piss in the sandbox like that, come on
Alzheimer's is terrifying, I hope this gets more research and confirmation
[sp] Would also be a good excuse to be sparking blunts at 60 [/sp]
I've met a few old stoners, it's kind of funny having some old 60-something man ask you if you smoke weed at home. They really are surprisingly sharp, most of the time.
In other news, water is wet!
[QUOTE=Tacooo;51006306]Alzheimer's is terrifying, I hope this gets more research and confirmation
[sp] Would also be a good excuse to be sparking blunts at 60 [/sp][/QUOTE]
Well middle aged folks over on our side already smoke more then young adults and teenagers so we're on a good path already.
It's funny because we probably would've discovered this a long time ago if fucking Nixon hadn't declared the War on Drugs, or at least cannabis.
[QUOTE=Dutch Flowers;51005628]Ganja is healthy and it makes you smart.[/QUOTE]
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buhkNvipAjY[/media]
[QUOTE=LtKyle2;51006962]Well middle aged folks over on our side already smoke more then young adults and teenagers so we're on a good path already.
It's funny because we probably would've discovered this a long time ago if fucking Nixon hadn't declared the War on Drugs, or at least cannabis.[/QUOTE]
Didn't Reagan have Alzheimers? Kind of ironic to think this could've helped him...
I find that pretty...
dope.
Seriously though, this sounds promising, but I think further research should be done before Gramps takes a big dose of leafy green.
[QUOTE=June;51005524]It's a little funny that a drug known for impairing memory could potentially lead to a cure for alzheimer's[/QUOTE]
Weed truly is a miracle drug.
[editline]a[/editline]
I'm hoping that now that it's getting legalized places they start doing more actual research on it to find any possible medicinal purposes.
It makes sense, I mean you may forget a little more when you toke, but you memorize longer in life. I don't know if it either just doesn't stress the memory receptors as bad or it directly heals them, but either way this will be magical.
I'd take this with a huge grain of salt considering we don't even [i]know[/i] what causes Alzheimer's.
[QUOTE=ElectricSquid;51007164]Didn't Reagan have Alzheimers? Kind of ironic to think this could've helped him...[/QUOTE]
He did, and one of his sons(the liberal one) mentioned having observed what he thought were symptoms in Reagan the last few years of his term.
Watch as people who can't tell the difference between recreational and medicinal cannabis start saying "woah man why do the governments not legalise this stuff yet maaan, it cures alzheimers, farrr ouuttt"
[QUOTE=WJS;51008351]Watch as people who can't tell the difference between recreational and medicinal cannabis start saying "woah man why do the governments not legalise this stuff yet maaan, it cures alzheimers, farrr ouuttt"[/QUOTE]
except this is the THC which is the recreational part
[QUOTE=Headhumpy;51007482]I'd take this with a huge grain of salt considering we don't even [i]know[/i] what causes Alzheimer's.[/QUOTE]
doesnt really matter
we know that plaques are a big thing in alzheimer's and this shit apparently does stuff to get rid of that shit
Wow this is great. And so is the fact that the government repeatedly denies propositions to reschedule cannabis to below schedule 1. No accepted medicinal value at all? Please. As schedule 1, weed is considered worse than methamphetamine, which is listed as schedule 2. I want whoever put this system in place to suffer greatly, preferably by having their teeth kicked in for how many lives have been ruined because of incarceration of users and patients for a completely made up "crime". Fuck that tyrannical bullshit
Good to see a little bit of relaxation for research, but come on already the fucking capitol has legalized it.
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