New Research Finds Marijuana May Combat Brain Damage

New research published in the journals Behavioural Brain Research andExperimental Brain Research has found that even minimalistic amounts of marijuana may help fight brain damage.

Pharmacologist Josef Sarne of Tel Aviv University, the lead researcher of the study, found that tiny amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) may protect the brain after injuries from seizures, as well as toxic drug exposure and a lack of oxygen.

During the study, researchers injected mice with a low dose of THC (thousands of times less potent than even the weakest joint) either before or after exposing them to brain trauma. Rodents in a control group were (sadly) exposed to trauma without given any THC.

Roughly a month later the mice were examined – those which had been given THC performed better in behavioral tests which were designed to measure learning and memory – the tests also showed the THC-administered mice had greater amounts of neuroprotective chemicals than mice in the control group.

This study comes around the same time as research released in the journalNeuropharmacology, which found cannabinoids to have neuroprotective qualities when administered to newborn pigs. The study states, “In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that CBD exerts robust neuroprotective effects in vivo in HI piglets, modulating excitotoxicity, oxidative stress and inflammation, and that both CB2 and 5HT1A receptors are implicated in these effects.”

Source: The Joint Blog