Cannabis compound may offer treatment for brain disorders: study
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SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A compound in cannabis may offer a novel treatment solution for neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, according to a new study from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
The La Jolla-based researchers began exploring whether a milder, less psychoactive type of cannabinoid, which are compounds derived from the cannabis plant, can have a therapeutic or clinical application.
The cannabinoid is called cannabinol (CBN) — a cousin of the more well-known compounds: tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). The chemical is found in the sativa strain of the cannabis plant.
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What the Salk Institute’s researchers found is that this chemical can be developed for use to protect the brain from aging and neurodegeneration, suggesting promise for CBN in treating conditions like a traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
These conclusions were published in the science journal, Redox Biology, last month.
“Not only does CBN have neuroprotective properties, but its derivatives have the potential to become novel therapeutics for various neurological disorders,” Pamela Maher, senior author of the study and Salk Institute research professor, said in a release.
According to Salk, researchers already knew that CBN had a degree of neuroprotective abilities by preventing brain cells’ mitochondria, which generates power, from becoming dysfunctional. Without a functioning mitochondria, these brain cells, known as neurons, die.
To understand whether clinicians can harness CBN’s neuroprotective abilities, the Salk researchers created small fragments of the compound and observed which of those fragments were the most effective neuroprotectors through chemical analysis.
Then, researchers built four novel CBN analogs, which are a chemical look-alike, to amplify these components for screening in mouse and human nerve cell cultures, as well as in fruit flies.
“We were looking for CBN analogs that could get into the brain more efficiently, act more quickly, and produce a stronger neuroprotective effect than CBN itself,” explained Zhibin Liang, a postdoctoral researcher in Maher’s lab who was the first author on the study.
“The four CBN analogs we landed on had improved medicinal chemical properties, which was exciting and really important to our goal of using them as therapeutics,” Liang continued.
All four, according to the study, was successful at protecting neurons from dying. One of the more successful analogs effectively treated a traumatic brain injury modeled using the fruit flies, producing a high survival rate after the condition’s onset.
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“Our findings help demonstrate the therapeutic potential of CBN, as well as the scientific opportunity we have to replicate and refine its drug-like properties,” Maher said. “Could we one day give this CBN analog to football players the day before a big game, or to car accident survivors as they arrive in the hospital?
“We’re excited to see how effective these compounds might be in protecting the brain from further damage,” Maher continued.
Next steps, the Salk researchers say, include refining the CBN chemical designs created during this study. They also plan to look more closely at age-related neurodegeneration and changes in brain cells with the chemical.
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