week 4 part 2 Flashcards
What are cannabinoids?
terpenophenolic constituents of the hemp plant (cannabis sativa)
What has cannabinoids been used for?
over 4000 years as a recreational drug due to its mind-altering effects
What is the primary psychoactive constituents of cannabis?
Δ8-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ8-THC)
Δ9-THC
What has cannabinoids been shown to produce?
a unique syndrome of effects on the behaviour of humans and animas that include:
- disruption of short-term memory
- cognitive impairments
- a sense of time dilation
- mood alterations
- enhanced body awareness
- reduced ability to focus attention
- filter out irrelevant information
- dicoordination
- sleepiness
What did Queen Victoria use cannabinoids for?
Analgesics effect
What was cannbinoids used to treat?
seizures
How many compounds does cannabis have?
30 compounds
What are some examples of effects cannabis has on humans?
- Euphoria
- Heightened sensory perception
- Distorted sense of time and space
- Hallucinations
- Drowsiness, sleep
- Impairment of memory
- Increased motor activity followed by inertia and ataxia
What did animal research show?
potential for cannabinoid dependence exists
cannabinoid withdrawal symptoms can be observed
What does injection of THC into mice cause
- Inhibition of spontaneous locomotor activity
- Antinociception (analgesia)
- Hypothermia
- Immobility
Where are endocannabinoids produced?
In the body when needed, under stress, or in response to synaptic activity
What are the most studied endocannabinoids?
- Anandamide (AEA)
2. 2-AG
what are endocannabinoid?
considered to be dominant
agonist for CB1 and CB2 receptors, with higher affinity to CB1 binding
What did Allyn Howlett demonstate?
Cannabinoids cause inhibition of adenylyl cyclase in neuroblastoma cells
What did this suggest?
Cannabinoids may exert their effect by binding to a GPCR
What is CP 55,940?
Cannabinoid in which mimics the effects of naturally occuring THC
A full agonist at both CB1 and CB2 receptors
What was [3H] CP 55,940 used for?
It is a radiolabelled synthetic cannabinoid which is 10-100 times more potent in vivo than delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol and used to characterise and localise a specific cannabinoid receptor in brain sections
What did autoradiography show?
in all species very dense binding was found in the
- Globus pallidus
- Substantia nigra
- Pars reticulata
- Molecular layers of the cerebellum and hippocampal dentate gyrus
- stratium
For autoradiography where did very low and homogenous binding characterise?
- Thalamus
2. most of the brain stem
Where are CB1 receptors abundant in?
Putamen part of the relay system within basal ganglia that regulates body movement
What is the function of cerebellum?
Coordinates body movement
What is the function of hippocampus?
Involved in learning, memory and response to stress
What is the function of cerebral cortex?
Concerned with the integration of higher cognitive functions
Where is CB2 receptors located?
cells of the immune system
Where are both CB1 and CB2 found?
Alpha clade of the rhodopsin group of GPCRs
What can immunocytochemical methods be used to localise?
CB1 proteins in the brain
What does immunoctyochemical studies using different antibodies reveal?
Generally consistent pattern of staining that corresponded with the distriubtion of cannabinoid binding sites
What did these studies provide?
Important evidence that CB1 is likely to be mediated the effects of cannabinoids in the brain
What did determination of the neuroanatomical distribution of CB1 receptor in the brain provide?
A framework for interpreting the behavioural effects of cannabinoids
Wjat was CB1 knock out mice been generated independently shown to be?
unresponsiveness to cannabinoids in a standard set of behavioural assays
Where is the highest concentration of cannabinoid binding sites?
- Basal ganglia and cerebrellum
2. Regions of the brain that are involved in the inititation and coordination of movement