Posted on 04/11/2008 1:11:24 PM PDT by Red Badger
Marijuana is among the most frequently used illicit drugs by women during their childbearing years and there is growing concern that marijuana abuse during pregnancy, either alone or in combination with other drugs, may have serious effects on fetal brain development. There is strong evidence that THC, the main psychoactive component of marijuana, crosses the placenta, that maternal marijuana abuse results in intrauterine growth retardation and that infants exposed to marijuana exhibit a temporary syndrome that includes lethargy and decreased muscle tone.
Fetal exposure to THC can also result in attention deficits, learning disabilities and behavioral problems. A new study using rats found that THC combined with mildly intoxicating doses of alcohol induced widespread nerve cell death in the brain.
Led by Henrik Hansen and Chrysanthy Ikonomidou, at the Neuroscience Research Center of the Humboldt University in Berlin and the Department of Pediatric Neurology, University of Technology Dresden, Germany, researchers administered THC, a synthetic form of THC, ethanol, MK-801 (an anticonvulsant) and phenobarbital by injection to rats between 1 and 14 days old. A previous study by the same group had shown that ethanol and drugs such as sedatives, anesthetics and anticonvulsants triggered widespread nerve cell death in the developing brain of immature rodents; the current study was conducted to determine if cannabinoids had the same effect.
The results showed that THC and its synthetic form did not cause neurodegeneration when administered alone but did cause cell death when given with lower than toxic amounts of ethanol. This combined effect increased according to the dose of THC that was administered and was strongest when the rats were 7 days old. THC also enhanced the neurotoxic effect of phenobarbital and MK-801 (ethanol combines the mechanism of action used by these two drugs). In addition, marijuana activates CB1 receptor levels, which causes the psychomotor, memory, cognition and pain perception changes seen with this substance in adult humans and animals.
In the current study, THC combined with ethanol increased these levels, and the CB1 receptor blocker Rimonabant, an anti-obesity drug that may be beneficial in treating addiction, reduced these levels. Mice that did not have functioning CB1 receptors (knockout mice) were less susceptible to the neurotoxic effects of ethanol.
"Neuronal degeneration became disseminated and very severe when THC was combined with a mildly toxic ethanol dose," the authors state, adding that since this effect was completely counteracted with the CB1 receptor blocker Rimonabant, the activation of these receptors is responsible for ethanol's increased toxicity. They note that experimental evidence suggests that endocannabinoid (compounds similar to cannabinoids that are naturally produced in the body) signaling may be involved in developmental processes such as cell proliferation and survival during the formation of the central nervous system, which would account for the age-dependent effect of the THC/ethanol combination seen in this study.
The authors acknowledge that the effect of cannabinoids on the neurotoxicity of ethanol on the developing brain requires further studies with longer survival periods. "With the use of behavioral and stereological techniques such studies would explore whether acute changes reflect permanent neuronal loss and lead to behavioural deficits," they conclude. "The results of the acute studies have interesting potential therapeutic implications including the use of CB1 receptor antagonists for preventing brain damage in fetuses and neonates exposed to ethanol, sedative and/or anticonvulsant drugs."
Journal article: "Cannabinoids Enhance Susceptibility of Immature Brain to Ethanol Neurotoxicity," Henrik Hansen, Birte Krutz, Marco Sifringer, Vanya Stefovska, Petra Bittigau, Fritz Pragst, Giovanni Marsicano, Beat Lutz, Chrysanthy Ikonomidou, Annals of Neurology.
Adapted from materials provided by Wiley-Blackwell, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
and if you add sex and rock and roll- college!
Spiccoli agrees.
Post of the day!
Finally, liberalism explained.
And I think it might also harm young Republicans!
Dave? Dave’s not here man!
Don’t answer the phone! It may be bugged, Man!..............
I’ll tell ya one thing...I’m gonna stop wasting my marijuana and alcohol on rats, thats for sure.
Chong: “Who is it?”
Cheech: “Its Dave man! Will you open up, I got the stuff with me!”
Chong: “Who?”
Cheech: “Dave man, open up!”
Chong: “Dave?”
Cheech: “Yeah Dave, come on man open up I think the cops saw me!”
Chong: “Dave’s not here!”
Pot never did anything to me, except give me the giggles and a major case of the munchies...
Huh?
I resent that remark, I used alcohol and mj together, However I did not inhale the second while imbibing the first.
And I consider myself a good conservative.
Liberals need to find their excuses elsewhere.
LOL
k i did inhale sometimes but that is tween me and St Peter.
Me no understand these big words.
HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHEHHEHEHEHEH.........
Any idjut who shoots that maryjuana or smokes that LSD oughter be castrated!
Wait...mebbe them sex offenders oughter be castrated, too.
Heck, just castrate the ‘Rats.
Huh?
Obligatory joke about young RATS here. Well, actually it’s no joke. When I was a young stoner, I voted for jimmy carter. Four years earlier, I had intended to vote for Mcgovern, but got too loaded to go vote. By 1980, I was a taxpayer, and have not voted RAT since, except as a protest against a RINO.
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