[HappaGuy]

Originally Posted by motocross420

I was wondering if anyone has any info on the effects of smoking cannabis and the nervous system. I have heard that it can affect nerve regeneration/repair, but that the same is true with any substances whether it be pharmacutical, alchohol, or illegal drugs. Thanks

I'm not a doctor, and I don't really want to play one on tv but I like to say that a lot because resurrecting the ghost of Marcus Welby MD and his cheesy TV commercials in those few WTers old enough to remember him is how I get my kicks. These things I do.

I did a whole mess of research this morning about the latest MMJ science and came up with a horde of new research about a variety of illnesses, and yes, some of it indicates that cannabis helps nerve regeneration and repair, and in fact makes it possible, while alcohol and tobacco simply do damage. No other substance I've heard of has such effects. This seems truly miracle science.

I have a couple of MMJ and Pain abstracts to reproduce here, but I want to kick in with the MMJ and nerve protection effects because it's so amazing.

Hm. OK. #1 Cannabinoids evidently help protect the brains of newborns.

12:06 PM 10/25/07
MMJ Good for Newborns

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http://www.nature.com/bjp/journal/v1.../0706755a.html
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Subject Categories: Neuropharmacology

British Journal of Pharmacology (2006) 148, 442–451. doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0706755; published online 8 May 2006
Endocannabinoids potently protect the newborn brain against AMPA-kainate receptor-mediated excitotoxic damage

Basma Shouman1,2,7, Romain H Fontaine1,2, Olivier Baud1,2,3, Leslie Schwendimann1,2, Matthias Keller4, Michael Spedding5, Vincent Lelièvre1,2 and Pierre Gressens1,2,6

1. 1Inserm, U676, Paris, Hôpital Robert Debré, 48 Blvd Sérurier, F-75019, Paris, France
2. 2Université Paris 7, Faculté de Médecine Denis Diderot, IFR02, Paris, France
3. 3AP HP, Hôpital Robert Debré, Service de Réanimation Néonatale, Paris, France
4. 4Department of Neonatology, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
5. 5Institut de Recherches Internationales Servier (I.R.I.S.), Neuilly sur Seine, France
6. 6AP HP, Hôpital Robert Debré, Service de Neurologie Pédiatrique, Paris, France

Correspondence: Pierre Gressens, INSERM U 676, Hôpital Robert Debré, 48 Blvd Sérurier, F-75019 Paris, France. E-mail: gressens@rdebre.inserm.fr

7Current address: Mansoura University Children's Hospital, Mansoura, Egypt.

Received 3 January 2006; Revised 8 March 2006; Accepted 17 March 2006; Published online 8 May 2006.
Top of page
Abstract

1. Brain lesions induced in newborn mice or rats by the glutamatergic agonists ibotenate (acting on NMDA and metabotropic receptors) or S-bromowillardiine (acting on AMPA-kainate receptors) mimic some aspects of white matter cysts and transcortical necrosis observed in human perinatal brain damage associated with cerebral palsy. Exogenous and endogenous cannabinoids have received increasing attention as potential neuroprotective agents in a number of neurodegenerative disorders of the adult. One recent study showed neuroprotection by the cannabinoid agonist WIN-55212 in a newborn rat model of acute severe asphyxia.
2. The present study was designed to assess the neuroprotective effects of the endogenous cannabinoid anandamide using a well-defined rodent model of neonatal excitotoxic brain lesions.
3. In this model, anandamide provided dose-dependent and long-lasting protection of developing white matter and cortical plate reducing the size of lesions induced by S-bromowillardiine. Anandamide had only marginal neuroprotective effect against ibotenate-induced cortical grey matter lesions. Anandamide-induced neuroprotection against AMPA-kainate receptor-mediated brain lesions were blocked by a CB1 antagonist but not by a CB2 antagonist. Furthermore, anandamide effects were mimicked by a CB1 agonist but not by a CB2 agonist. Real-time PCR confirmed the expression of CB1 receptors, but not CB2 receptors, in the untreated newborn neocortex. Finally, neuroprotective effects of anandamide in white matter involved increased survival of preoligodendrocytes and better preservation of myelination.
4. The present study provides experimental support for the role of endocannabinoids as a candidate therapy for excitotoxic perinatal brain lesions.

Keywords:

Anandamide, CB1 receptor, cerebral palsy, neuroprotection, NMDA, oligodendrocyte, periventricular leukomalacia, willardiine
Abbreviations:

ACPA, arachidonylcyclopropylamide; CP, cerebral palsy

I suppose that requires some translation. It's gonna have to be rough, and I don't understand all those big words either. But I have enough cellular biology to catch the gist.

(Note: Rats are enough like humans so scientists frequently use them as experimental models of humans. There are some problems with this.)

Translation:

Cannabinoids, of the sort your own brain makes as well as the sort we smoke, have been exciting scientists with their potential for treating a number of nerve disorders in adult (rats). There was also a study showing they help baby rats dying for lack of air.

This study looks at the neuroprotective function of anandamide, a cannabinoid your brain makes, in rats (baby rats, in particular). (Neuroprotective means "protects the nerves")

Anandamide really helped to prevent nerve damage (in unborn rats).

They think this may help them treat brain damage in babies (like it does in baby rats).

My conclusion: Be glad you weren't born a lab rat.