Psychopharmacology
December 2025
Danielle McCartney, Jordan Levoux, Rebecca Gordon et al.
RATIONALE: Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal intoxicant in cannabis, is a highly lipophilic substance that is readily stored in fat. Preclinical research suggests that fat-stored THC can be released into circulation under lipolytic conditions, such as stress. However, compelling evidence of this phenomenon is lacking in humans. OBJECTIVES: Here, we investigated the effects of acute...
ACS Chemical Neuroscience
May 15, 2019
Samuel D Banister, Jonathon C Arnold, Mark Connor et al.
Cannabis ( Cannabis sativa) is the most widely used illicit drug in the world, with an estimated 192 million users globally. The main psychoactive component of cannabis is (-)- trans-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), a compound with a diverse range of pharmacological actions. The unique and distinctive intoxication caused by Δ9-THC primarily reflects partial agonist action at central...
Neuropsychopharmacology
October 2017
Natalia I Brzozowska, Erik J De Tonnerre, Kong M Li et al.
Cannabis use increases rates of psychotic relapse and treatment failure in schizophrenia patients. Clinical studies suggest that cannabis use reduces the efficacy of antipsychotic drugs, but there has been no direct demonstration of this in a controlled study. The present study demonstrates that exposure to the principal phytocannabinoid, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), reverses the...
European Neuropsychopharmacology
February 2017
Stephanie M Todd, Cilla Zhou, David J Clarke et al.
The evidence base for the use of medical cannabis preparations containing specific ratios of cannabidiol (CBD) and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is limited. While there is abundant data on acute interactions between CBD and THC, few studies have assessed the impact of their repeated co-administration. We previously reported that CBD inhibited or potentiated the acute effects of THC dependent on...
British Journal of Pharmacology
January 2016
S M Todd, Jonathon C Arnold
It has been proposed that medicinal strains of cannabis and therapeutic preparations would be safer with a more balanced concentration ratio of Δ(9) -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to cannabidiol (CBD), as CBD reduces the adverse psychotropic effects of THC. However, our understanding of CBD and THC interactions is limited and the brain circuitry mediating interactions between CBD and THC are...
Psychopharmacology
November 2011
Charlotte Klein, Emily Karanges, Adena Spiro et al.
The interactions between Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) during chronic treatment, and at equivalent doses, are not well characterised in animal models. The aim of this study is to examine whether the behavioural effects of THC, and blood and brain THC levels are affected by pre-treatment with equivalent CBD doses. Adolescent rats were treated with ascending daily THC...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
June 2011
Aurelie A Boucher, Glenn E. Hunt, Jacques Micheau et al.
Cannabis increases the risk of schizophrenia in genetically vulnerable individuals. In this study we aim to show that the schizophrenia susceptibility gene neuregulin 1 (Nrg1) modulates the development of tolerance to cannabinoids in mice. Nrg1 heterozygous (HET) and wild-type (WT) mice were treated daily for 15 d with the synthetic analogue of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, CP55,940 (0.4 mg/kg). We...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 2010
Leonora E Long, Rose Chesworth, Xu-Feng Huang et al.
Cannabis contains over 70 unique compounds and its abuse is linked to an increased risk of developing schizophrenia. The behavioural profiles of the psychotropic cannabis constituent Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta9-THC) and the non-psychotomimetic constituent cannabidiol (CBD) were investigated with a battery of behavioural tests relevant to anxiety and positive, negative and cognitive...
British Journal of Pharmacology
November 2009
Nathan Gunasekaran, L E Long, B L Dawson et al.
Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis, accumulates in adipose tissue where it is stored for long periods of time. Here we investigated whether conditions that promote lipolysis can liberate THC from adipocytes to yield increased blood levels of THC. In vitro studies involved freshly isolated rat adipocytes that were incubated with THC before exposure...
Psychopharmacology
June 2007
A A Boucher, Jonathon C Arnold, L Duffy et al.
Cannabis use may precipitate schizophrenia especially if the individual has a genetic vulnerability to this mental disorder. Human and animal research indicates that neuregulin 1 (Nrg1) is a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to investigate whether dysfunction in the Nrg1 gene modulates the behavioural effects of Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major...