New study - Marijuana increases brain growth

[Bubble Bags Australia]

Original article here:

http://www.peak.sfu.ca/the-peak/2005-3/issue9/ne-mj.html

 

science: Study shows marijuana increases brain cell growth

 

By Juanita King, The Muse (Memorial University of Newfoundland)

 

ST. JOHN’S, Nfld — Supporters of marijuana may finally have an excuse to smoke weed every day. A recent study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation suggests that smoking pot can make the brain grow.

 

Though most drugs inhibit the growth of new brain cells, injections of a synthetic cannibinoid have had the opposite effect in mice in a study performed at the University of Saskatchewan. Research on how drugs affect the brain has been critical to addiction treatment, particularly research on the hippocampus.

 

The hippocampus is an area of the brain essential to memory formation. It is unusual because it grows new neurons over a person’s lifetime. Researchers believe these new cells help to improve memory and fight depression and mood disorders.

 

Many drugs -— heroin, cocaine, and the more common alcohol and nicotine — inhibit the growth of these new cells. It was thought that marijuana did the same thing, but this new research suggests otherwise.

 

Neuropsychiatrist Xia Zhang and a team of researchers study how marijuana-like drugs — known collectively as cannabinoids — act on the brain.

 

The team tested the effects of HU-210, a potent synthetic cannabinoid similar to a group of compounds found in marijuana. The synthetic version is about 100 times as powerful as THC, the high-inducing compound loved by recreational users.

 

The researchers found that rats treated with HU-210 on a regular basis showed neurogenesis — the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus. A current hypothesis suggests depression may be triggered when the hippocampus grows insufficient numbers of new brain cells. If true, HU-210 could offer a treatment for such mood disorders by stimulating this growth.

 

Whether this is true for all cannabinoids remains unclear, as HU-210 is only one of many and the HU-210 in the study is highly purified.

 

“That does not mean that general use in healthy people is beneficial,” said Memorial psychology professor William McKim. “We need to learn if this happens in humans, whether this is useful in healthy people, and whether THC causes it as well.”

 

McKim warns that marijuana disrupts memory and cognition. “These effects can be long-lasting after heavy use,” he said. “This makes it difficult to succeed academically if you use it excessively.”

 

“Occasional light use probably does not have very serious consequences. [but] there is some evidence that marijuana smoke might cause cancer.”

 

Still, the positive aspects of marijuana are becoming more plentiful as further research is done. McKim says it’s not surprising that THC and compounds like it could have medicinal effects.

 

“Many have been identified,” he said. “It stimulates appetite in people with AIDS, it is an analgesic, and blocks nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. And it treats the symptoms of glaucoma.”

 

The research group’s next studies will examine the more unpleasant side of the drug.

[iamnotacop]

“That does not mean that general use in healthy people is beneficial,”

..................

McKim warns that marijuana disrupts memory and cognition. “These effects can be long-lasting after heavy use,” he said. “This makes it difficult to succeed academically if you use it excessively.”

...................

"there is some evidence that marijuana smoke might cause cancer.”

.................

 

 

Even when he has something intelligent to say he still uses false anecdotal evidence that has already been dismissed by ethical scientists.

 

 

The research group’s next studies will examine the more unpleasant side of the drug.

 

 

Gee, I can't wait for this one </sarcasm>

[mull]

Yeah the second study will likely find cannabis is bad for you, but synthetic thc hu210 is still good (even tho its 100 times more powerful than the 60's).

[Frazz]

Excellent find meerkat .. we really need more money pumped into research like this as i know there are more positives to come from our herb , but it all takes money .. and i do look forward to the 2nd study as well , though i think the only biggest drawback on Canna use is the smoking delivery method

 

at the risk of sounding like a big-head i always thought i had an exccessive overflow of brain cells ..

 

[67Special]

The synthetic version is about 100 times as powerful as THC, the high-inducing compound loved by recreational users.

so, anyone got the recipe for this HU-210 stuff?

Wouldn't mind doing some of my own research

 

for your brain!

[freddie]

Great news but not "new". This study was published in 2005.

 

Here's a similar article that suggests natural THC might not stimulate neurogenesis.

 

Marijuana might cause new cell growth in the brain

 

* 22:00 13 October 2005

* NewScientist.com news service

* Kurt Kleiner

 

A synthetic chemical similar to the active ingredient in marijuana makes new cells grow in rat brains. What is more, in rats this cell growth appears to be linked with reducing anxiety and depression. The results suggest that marijuana, or its derivatives, could actually be good for the brain.

 

In mammals, new nerve cells are constantly being produced in a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is associated with learning, memory, anxiety and depression. Other recreational drugs, such as alcohol, nicotine and cocaine, have been shown to suppress this new growth. Xia Zhang of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, and colleagues decided to see what effects a synthetic cannabinoid called HU210 had on rats' brains.

 

They found that giving rats high doses of HU210 twice a day for 10 days increased the rate of nerve cell formation, or neurogenesis, in the hippocampus by about 40%.

Just like Prozac?

 

A previous study showed that the antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac) also increases new cell growth, and the results indicated that it was this cell growth that caused Prozac’s anti-anxiety effect. Zhang wondered whether this was also the case for the cannabinoid, and so he tested the rats for behavioural changes.

 

When the rats who had received the cannabinoid were placed under stress, they showed fewer signs of anxiety and depression than rats who had not had the treatment. When neurogenesis was halted in these rats using X-rays, this effect disappeared, indicating that the new cell growth might be responsible for the behavioural changes.

 

In another study, Barry Jacobs, a neuroscientist at Princeton University, gave mice the natural cannabinoid found in marijuana, THC (D9-tetrahydrocannabinol)). But he says he detected no neurogenesis, no matter what dose he gave or the length of time he gave it for. He will present his results at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington DC in November.

 

Jacobs says it could be that HU210 and THC do not have the same effect on cell growth. It could also be the case that cannabinoids behave differently in different rodent species - which leaves open the question of how they behave in humans.

 

Zhang says more research is needed before it is clear whether cannabinoids could some day be used to treat depression in humans.

 

ttp://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8155

 

Another article here:

http://cannabis.net/neogenesis/index.html

 

And something interesting while I was searching. Check this out (seems a bit dated though):

http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/