Chronic use of cannabis might impair sensory error processing in the cerebellum through endocannabinoid dysregulation.
Adrián F Amil, Belén Rubio Ballester, Martina Maier, Paul Verschure
Addictive Behaviors August 2022 DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2022.107297 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Cannabis |
| Keywords | Cerebellum Chronic cannabis use Endocannabinoid system Error processing Motor learning |
| Key findings | The authors propose that chronic cannabis use downregulates cerebellar CB1 receptors, leading to underestimation and misprocessing of sensory errors that normally drive synaptic updates in the cerebellar cortex. A computational model of motor adaptation reproduced the decreased implicit adaptation associated with chronic cannabis use, and the authors suggest this mechanism may also explain motor impairments following chronic alcohol dependence. |
Abstract
Chronic use of cannabis leads to both motor deficits and the downregulation of CB1 receptors (CB1R) in the cerebellum. In turn, cerebellar damage is often related to impairments in motor learning and control. Further, a recent motor learning task that measures cerebellar-dependent adaptation has been shown to distinguish well between healthy subjects and chronic cannabis users. Thus, the deteriorating effects of chronic cannabis use in motor performance point to cerebellar adaptation as a key process to explain such deficits. We review the literature relating chronic cannabis use, the endocannabinoid system in the cerebellum, and different forms of cerebellar-dependent motor learning, to suggest that CB1R downregulation leads to a generalized underestimation and misprocessing of the sensory errors driving synaptic updates in the cerebellar cortex. Further, we test our hypothesis with a computational model performing a motor adaptation task and reproduce the behavioral effect of decreased implicit adaptation that appears to be a sign of chronic cannabis use. Finally, we discuss the potential of our hypothesis to explain similar phenomena related to motor impairments following chronic alcohol dependency.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on cannabis, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Causal association between cannabis and psychosis: examination of the evidence | 2004 | Review | |
| Cannabis sativa: A comprehensive ethnopharmacological review of a medicinal plant with a long history. General (historical and pharmacological review) | 2018 | Review | |
| Psychiatric effects of cannabis | 2001 | Review | |
| Beyond THC: The New Generation of Cannabinoid Designer Drugs | 2011 | Review | |
| Cannabidiol, a Cannabis sativa constituent, as an antipsychotic drug | 2006 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cites 4
- Cognitive motor deficits in cannabis users Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences July 19, 2016
- Acute and Chronic Effects of Cannabinoids on Human Cognition-A Systematic Review. Biological Psychiatry April 1, 2016
- MAM-2201, a synthetic cannabinoid drug of abuse, suppresses the synaptic input to cerebellar Purkinje cells via activation of presynaptic CB1 receptors. Neuropharmacology August 2015
- Regulation of cannabinoid CB1 receptors in the central nervous system by chronic cannabinoids. Critical reviews in neurobiology 2003