Cannabis and Alzheimer’s disease

See also:

Marijuana for Alzheimers

Active ingredient in marijuana may help preserve brain function

A puff a day might keep Alzheimer’s away

The following is written by Dr. Robert Melamede and comes from here.

Alzheimer’s disease is a neuro-degenerative condition for which cannabis and cannabinoid therapies show promise, both for treating the symptoms and the underlying disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is widely held to be associated with oxidative stress due, in part, to the membrane action of beta-amyloid peptide aggregates. A laboratory study published in 2004 indicates that one of the cannabis plant’s primary components, cannabidiol (CBD), exerts a combination of neuroprotective, anti-oxidative and antiapoptotic effects by inhibiting the release of the toxic beta-amyloid peptide.

Another cannabinoid, THC, has also has been shown to reduce the agitation common to Alzheimer’s sufferers, according to findings presented in 2003 at the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists’ 34th annual meeting. Agitation is the most common behavioral management problem in patients with Alzheimer’s and affects an estimated 75 percent of people with the disease. It may lead to a variety of symptoms ranging from physical and/or verbal abusive postures, physically non-aggressive conduct including pacing and restlessness, as well as verbally disturbed behaviors such as screaming and repetitive requests for attention.

This study and the Institutes of Medicine report also show THC to be effective in combating the anorexia or wasting syndrome common to Alzheimer’s sufferers, since food refusal is a common problem in patients who suffer from Alzheimer’s type dementia. The appetite-stimulation properties of cannabis are some of the most well-established in clinical research.122

This new research on cannabis and Alzheimer’s disease, coupled with the extensive work done on other neuroprotective qualities of cannabis and its components, indicates that cannabis may become the source of the most effective treatments for battling the Central Nervous System diseases that afflict millions of elderly Americans.

A puff a day might keep Alzheimer’s away

Contrary to the common belief that smoking the drug destroys memory, researchers have found that it could actually keep the brain young.

“The researchers ducked the obvious question of whether it might be simpler, faster and cheaper to simply light up a joint [than to try and create a synthetic version of cannabis].

“Could people smoke marijuana to prevent Alzheimer’s disease if the disease is in their family?”

Wenk said in a statement, “We’re not saying that, but it might actually work.” (Source)

A puff a day might keep Alzheimer’s away, according to marijuana research by professor Gary Wenk and associate professor Yannic Marchalant of the Ohio State Department of Psychology.

Wenk’s studies show that a low dosage in the morning of a certain cannabinoid, a component in marijuana, reversed memory loss in older rats’ brains. In his study, an experimental group of old rats received a dosage, and a control group of rats did not. The old rats that received the drugs performed better on memory tests, and the drug slowed and prevented brain cell death. However, marijuana had the reverse effect on young rats’ brains, actually impairing mental ability.

Alzheimer’s is a disease unique to humans and the memory loss in the rats was a natural decline, but rat brains are similar enough to human brains to serve as partial models for humans, Wenk said.

Research on marijuana as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease began because of the drug’s success in slowing progression of multiple sclerosis and reducing patients’ pain, Wenk said (pictured at right). Alzheimer’s affects a similar part of the brain that MS does.

Other research has shown that young people who take Advil regularly for arthritis, drink alcohol in moderation or smoke cigarettes reduce their risks of developing Alzheimer’s as they age, but marijuana is the first substance that has worked on older brains in experiments.

Alzheimer’s screening is available for people in their 30s, but it is expensive and many people do not recognize the warning signs. “People get diagnosed [with Alzheimer’s] in their 60s, and they need something now,” Wenk said.

Separating the benefits of marijuana from the high is a problem the researchers encountered, and Wenk said that it might not be possible. “That poses a problem, because you can’t be making people with memory loss high,” he said.

Research involving marijuana or any other illegal drug is controversial, and Wenk’s findings are no exception. He said it is difficult to get work published, and his findings have received criticism that he is advocating a “stoner life,” and praise for contributing to science. MSN, Yahoo and WBNS have all featured his research. The American Association for the Advancement of Science has recently elected Wenk as a fellow for his contributions to Alzheimer’s research…

Graduate student Holly Brothers, who worked on the research with Wenk and Marchalant, said that

… the scientific community does have sway on policy makers’ decisions on drug use, but it is a slow process. “We accept medical use of cocaine and morphine, which are just as illicit as marijuana and extremely addictive”.

The FDA maintains that marijuana has no medical use.

Despite this, 13 states have legalized medical marijuana.

Source

Active ingredient in marijuana may help preserve brain function

Good news for aging hippies: smoking pot may stave off Alzheimer’s disease (source: MSNBC)

(A 2006 study) shows that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the formation of deposits in the brain associated with the degenerative disease.

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California found that marijuana’s active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, can prevent an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase from accelerating the formation of “Alzheimer plaques” in the brain more effectively than commercially marketed drugs.

THC is also more effective at blocking clumps of protein that can inhibit memory and cognition in Alzheimer’s patients, the researchers reported in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.

The researchers said their discovery could lead to more effective drug treatment for Alzheimer’s, the leading cause of dementia among the elderly.

Those afflicted with Alzheimer’s suffer from memory loss, impaired decision-making, and diminished language and movement skills. The ultimate cause of the disease is unknown, though it is believed to be hereditary.

Marijuana is used to relieve glaucoma and can help reduce side effects from cancer and AIDS treatment.

From the researchers at Scripps:

THC “may provide an improved therapeutic for Alzheimer’s disease” that would treat “both the symptoms and progression” of the disease.

“While we are certainly not advocating the use of illegal drugs, these findings offer convincing evidence that THC possesses remarkable inhibitory qualities, especially when compared to AChE inhibitors currently available to patients,” said Kim Janda, Ph.D., who is Ely R. Callaway, Jr. Professor of Chemistry at Scripps Research, a member of The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, and director of the Worm Institute of Research and Medicine. “In a test against propidium, one of the most effective inhibitors reported to date, THC blocked AChE-induced aggregation completely, while the propidium did not. Although our study is far from final, it does show that there is a previously unrecognized molecular mechanism through which THC may directly affect the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.”

As the new study points out, any new treatment that could halt or even slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease would have a major impact on the quality of life for patients, as well as reducing the staggering health care costs associated with the disease.

Read the full study here.