Readable research linked to original sources
Articles
Browse normalized, publication-ready research with direct links to its evidence and source.
Loading articles data…
Readable research linked to original sources
Browse normalized, publication-ready research with direct links to its evidence and source.
Loading articles data…
Readable research linked to original sources
Browse normalized, publication-ready research with direct links to its evidence and source.
11 articles
Newest firstRationale Harmful alcohol use remains a significant global public health challenge. Examining variability in the acute subjective effects of alcohol and related neurobiological mechanisms may advance the understanding of susceptibility to harmful alcohol use. Research suggests the endocannabinoid (eCB) system may play an important role in mediating the reinforcing effects of alcohol. This study examined the relati…
Open article record in new tab ↗Background Most substance users are polysubstance users; however, little is known about how the combined use of different drugs affects the course of substance use disorder or effectiveness of treatment. Notably, co-use of cannabis and nicotine is very common, and we previously demonstrated that nicotine enhances the self-administration of a synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist and the primary psychoactive phyto…
BackgroundSynaptic dysfunction underlies early sensorimotor and cognitive deficits in Huntington's disease (HD) and precedes the degeneration of striatal spiny projection neurons and cortical pyramidal neurons. Movement selection and motor learning, which are impaired early in HD, are regulated by connections between the motor cortex, basal ganglia and thalamus. In particular, plasticity at corticostriatal synapse…
Social relationships are central to well-being. A subgroup of afferent nerve fibers, C-tactile (CT) afferents, are primed to respond to affective, socially relevant touch and may mitigate the effects of stress. The endocannabinoid ligand anandamide (AEA) modulates both social reward and stress. We thus hypothesized that AEA levels would be associated with the perceived pleasantness of affective touch in humans. Ac…
People with epilepsy often have psychiatric comorbidities that can significantly impair their quality of life. We previously reported that repeated seizure activity persistently alters endocannabinoid (eCB) signaling in the amygdala which accounts for comorbid emotional dysregulation in rats, however, the mechanism by which these alterations in eCB signaling within the epileptic brain occur is unclear. Endocannabi…
Open article record in new tab ↗Increasing evidence suggests that the neurobiological processes that govern learning and memory can be different in males and females, but many of the specific mechanisms underlying these sex differences have not been fully defined. Here we investigated potential sex differences in endocannabinoid (eCB) modulation of Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction, examining multiple defensive behaviors, including shoc…
Open article record in new tab ↗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 development of pharmacologi…
Open article record in new tab ↗Background Cannabis edibles are an increasingly popular form of cannabis consumption. Oral consumption of cannabis has distinct physiological and behavioral effects compared with injection or inhalation. An animal model is needed to understand the pharmacokinetics and physiological effects of oral cannabis consumption in rodents as a model for human cannabis edible use. Methods Adult male and female C57BL/6 mice r…
Open article record in new tab ↗Modulation of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a novel putative target for therapeutic intervention in depressive disorders. Altering concentrations of one of the principal endocannabinoids, N-arachidonoylethanolamine, also known as anandamide (AEA) can affect depressive-like behaviors through several mechanisms including anti-inflammatory, hormonal, and neural circuit alterations. Recently, isoflavonoids, a cl…
Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) degrades the endocannabinoid anandamide. A polymorphism in FAAH (FAAH C385A) reduces FAAH expression, increases anandamide levels, and increases the risk of obesity. Nevertheless, some studies have found no association between FAAH C385A and obesity. We investigated whether the environmental context governs the impact of FAAH C385A on metabolic outcomes. Using a C385A knock-in mou…
Open article record in new tab ↗Background Depression is known to be a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Since recent preclinical evidence suggests that endogenous agonists of cannabinoid receptors (endocannabinoids) are involved in both cardiovascular function and depression, we asked whether endocannabinoids correlated with either in humans. Results Resting blood pressure and serum content of…
Open article record in new tab ↗