BioCentury
ARTICLE | Tools & Techniques

Converging on marijuana

July 13, 1998 7:00 AM UTC

For years, scientists have been trying with little success to separate the psychoactive properties of marijuana from its potential medical uses. Likewise, researchers have had limited success seeking molecules to neutralize reactive oxygen to protect tissues, most notably with therapeutic candidates based on superoxide dismutase. But the two frustrating lines of research are apparently converging on cannabidiol, a non-psychogenic marijuana molecule.

Research published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences highlights the anti-ischemic properties of cannabidiol. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana) and cannabidiol had equal effectiveness in blocking the toxicity of excess glutamate in cultures of rat brain neurons, regardless of whether the insult was mediated by NMDA, AMPA, or kainate receptors. The effect was not changed by adding blockers of the cannabinoid receptor, the specific docking site on brain cells for derivatives of marijuana...