Psychopharmacology
February 1, 2026
Ana Deutsch, Connor J Haggarty, Gavin N Petrie et al.
1 citation
Stimulant drugs such as methamphetamine (MA) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) can impact neurobiological systems implicated in stress, reward processing, and drug use. Although recent preclinical evidence implicates the endocannabinoid (eCB) system in these processes, little is known about the acute effects of stimulants on eCB levels in humans. The aim of the present study was to...
Psychopharmacology
February 1, 2026
Savannah H M Lightfoot, Andrei S Nastase, Gabriela Costa Lenz Cesar et al.
Current treatment options for PTSD have unreliable efficacy, with many individuals unable to achieve complete remission. Cannabis and cannabinoids that act through the endogenous cannabinoid (endocannabinoid) system to help promote trauma recovery by means of enhanced extinction learning are potential therapeutic, pharmacological candidates. Using a preclinical model of translationally-relevant...
Psychopharmacology
February 1, 2026
Nicole L Zabik, Allesandra Iadipaolo, Craig A Peters et al.
Prior work from our lab and others demonstrates that the endocannabinoid system is a promising avenue for improving fear memory deficits in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Specifically, 7.5 mg of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) decreases fear responding in healthy adults and increases prefrontal cortex activation during extinction learning and fear renewal in adults with PTSD. The...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
December 30, 2025
Catherine Hume, Carrie Cuttler, Samantha L Baglot et al.
With approximately 4% of the world's population using cannabis, there is a need to better understand its physiological effects. Cannabis consumption acutely promotes food intake ("the munchies") via delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol-mediated activation of cannabinoid 1 receptors (CB1R); however, these appetitive effects have not been well characterized. We examined effects of cannabis vapor...
Psychological Medicine
November 2023
Matthew N Hill, Margaret Haney, Cecilia J. Hillard et al.
Cannabis is well established to impact affective states, emotion and perceptual processing, primarily through its interactions with the endocannabinoid system. While cannabis use is quite prevalent in many individuals afflicted with psychiatric illnesses, there is considerable controversy as to whether cannabis may worsen these conditions or provide some form of therapeutic benefit. The...
Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology
2023
Luke J. Ney, Wole Akosile, Chris Davey et al.
8 citations
Preclinical and experimental research have provided promising evidence that medicinal cannabis may be efficacious in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, implementation of medicinal cannabis into routine clinical therapies may not be straightforward. In this review, we describe some of the clinical, practical, and safety challenges that must be addressed for...
Scientific Reports
December 14, 2021
Samantha L Baglot, Catherine Hume, Gavin N Petrie et al.
Up to a third of North Americans report using cannabis in the prior month, most commonly through inhalation. Animal models that reflect human consumption are critical to study the impact of cannabis on brain and behaviour. Most animal studies to date utilize injection of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC; primary psychoactive component of cannabis). THC injections produce markedly different...
Hippocampus
March 2014
Tiffany T-Y Lee, Steven R Wainwright, Matthew N Hill et al.
Cannabinoid exposure during adolescence has adverse effects on neuroplasticity, emotional behavior, cognition, and reward sensitivity in adult rats. We investigated whether escalating doses of the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1 R) agonist, HU-210, in adolescence would affect adult hippocampal neurogenesis and behavioral processes putatively modulated by hippocampal neurogenesis, in adult male and...
British Journal of Pharmacology
June 1, 2010
Daniel T Malone, Matthew N Hill, Tiziana Rubino
Cannabis is one of the most widely used illicit drugs among adolescents, and most users first experiment with it in adolescence. Adolescence is a critical phase for brain development, characterized by neuronal maturation and rearrangement processes, such as myelination, synaptic pruning and dendritic plasticity. The endocannabinoid system plays an important role in fundamental brain...
European Journal of Neuroscience
August 2004
Matthew N Hill, David J Froc, Christopher J Fox et al.
Adult male Long-Evans rats were administered the potent cannabinoid 1 receptor agonist HU-210 (100 microg/kg, i.p.) for 15 days continuously and their performance on a matching-to-place version of the Morris water maze was subsequently evaluated. Overall, experimental animals performed significantly worse initially on the reference memory component of this task, but their performance improved...