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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 13,985
Loc: 
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 Marijuana-like Brain Chemicals Work As Antidepressant
#7598610 - 11/05/07 12:57 PM (4 years, 6 months ago) |
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Marijuana-like Brain Chemicals Work As Antidepressant
November 5, 2007 - Science Daily
 American and Italian researchers have found that boosting the amounts of a marijuana-like brain transmitter called anandamide produces antidepressant effects in test rats.
Led by Daniele Piomelli, the Louise Turner Arnold Chair in Neurosciences and director of the Center for Drug Discovery at the University of California, Irvine, the researchers used a drug they created, called URB597, which blocks anandamide degradation in the brain, thereby increasing the levels of this chemical.
“These findings raise the hope that the mood-elevating properties of marijuana can be harnessed to treat depression,” Piomelli said. “Marijuana itself has shown no clinical use for depression. However, specific drugs that amplify the actions of natural marijuana-like transmitters in the brain are showing great promise.”
The researchers administered URB597 to chronically stressed rats which showed behaviors similar to those seen in depressed human patients. After five weeks of treatment, the stressed rats treated with the drug were behaving similarly to a comparison group of unstressed animals.
URB597 works by inhibiting FAAH, an enzyme in the body that breaks down anandamide. Dubbed “the bliss molecule” for its similarities to the active ingredient in marijuana, anandamide is a neurotransmitter that is part of the brain’s endocannabinoid system and it has been shown in studies by Piomelli and others to play analgesic, anti-anxiety and antidepressant roles. It also is involved in regulating feeding and obesity. Blocking FAAH activity boosts the effects of anandamide without producing the “high” seen with marijuana.
Piomelli and colleagues at the Universities of Urbino and Parma in Italy created URB597. A patent was issued in 2007. The European pharmaceutical company Organon holds the license to the patent and will begin clinical studies on the drug in 2008, according to Piomelli.
Marco Bortolato, Regina Mangieri, Jin Fu, Janet Kim and Oliver Arguello of UC Irvine; Andrea Duranti, Andrea Tontini and Giorgio Tarzia of the University of Urbino; and Marco Mor of the University of Parma also participated in the study. It was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the University of California Discovery Program and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression.
The study appears in the Nov. 15 issue of Biological Psychiatry.
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 PsychedelicPhish
Mushroomvillager
Registered: 10/14/07
Posts: 54
Loc: Coca field
Last seen: 4 years, 6 months
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Re: Marijuana-like Brain Chemicals Work As Antidepressant [Re: veggie]
#7599055 - 11/05/07 02:56 PM (4 years, 6 months ago) |
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i new cannabis could treat/help with depression!
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Visionary Tools
I <3 Thomas Jefferson
Registered: 06/23/07
Posts: 5,441
Last seen: 18 hours, 30 minutes
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Re: Marijuana-like Brain Chemicals Work As Antidepressant [Re: PsychedelicPhish]
#7599349 - 11/05/07 04:20 PM (4 years, 6 months ago) |
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I get the sneaking suspicion that URB597 would potentiate cannabis, and I now want to get ahold of some. High for eight hours on just a joint's worth? Yes please!
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monstermush
Johnny Blaze
Registered: 10/22/07
Posts: 42
Last seen: 4 years, 1 hour
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Re: Marijuana-like Brain Chemicals Work As Antidepressant [Re: Visionary Tools]
#7600584 - 11/05/07 08:50 PM (4 years, 6 months ago) |
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dude when i stopped smoking i went into a depression this makes sense now...
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Jorsher
Psychonaut
Registered: 08/28/06
Posts: 691
Loc: Earth
Last seen: 1 year, 5 months
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Re: Marijuana-like Brain Chemicals Work As Antidepressant [Re: monstermush]
#7601062 - 11/05/07 10:44 PM (4 years, 6 months ago) |
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Uhhhh cool, this is the same chemical that was mentioned in the article about sea urchin eggs and marijuana...
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5 shroom me!
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ShroomNinja
P. Shuriken -Ninjas Choice!!
Registered: 12/05/06
Posts: 247
Last seen: 2 years, 5 months
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Re: Marijuana-like Brain Chemicals Work As Antidepressant [Re: Jorsher]
#7601851 - 11/06/07 08:52 AM (4 years, 6 months ago) |
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i thought i recognised that anandamide bit from somewhere.
Nature wins again... fuck prescription drugs... i find they only make u worse!!
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Welcome To The Realm of The Unknown!!
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badchad
Mad Scientist
Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 7,896
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Re: Marijuana-like Brain Chemicals Work As Antidepressant [Re: ShroomNinja]
#7601916 - 11/06/07 09:14 AM (4 years, 6 months ago) |
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A promising start, but it's a long way from rats to humans!!
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...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did.
Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27.
...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely.
Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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Visionary Tools
I <3 Thomas Jefferson
Registered: 06/23/07
Posts: 5,441
Last seen: 18 hours, 30 minutes
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Re: Marijuana-like Brain Chemicals Work As Antidepressant [Re: badchad]
#7602670 - 11/06/07 12:22 PM (4 years, 6 months ago) |
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I want my FAAH inhibitor! Hopefully it's less severe than the MAOI's.
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