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Migz420

Plant extract may help cut craving for cannabis
05-23-07|new karala

London, May 23- An experiment on mice conducted by US scientists has shown that a compound extracted from a plant from the buttercup family has the ability to reduce craving for marihuana, and block its effect on the brain.

Steven Goldberg of the Maryland based National Institute on Drug Abuse found that upon administration of the plant extract, the rodents lose their hankering for a synthetic version of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an active compound in marijuana. The treatment also blocked a reward response in the animals' brains when they did receive synthetic THC.

During the course of study, the rats were placed in a cage with a lever that they could push. As and when they leaned on the lever, they received a dose of the synthetic THC through a small tube running into their body.

It was observed that over a period of three weeks, the rats learnt how to enjoy the effects of synthetic THC, and frequently administered themselves the drug. But the animals who received saline solution did not press the lever often.

Goldberg then injected the rats with methyllycaconitine (MLA), a compound derived from the seeds of the Delphinium brownii plant, and noted that it had a dramatic effect on the rats' behaviour, viz, reduction in the pushing of lever for synthetic drug THC by 70 per cent.

According to the researchers, he drug did not seem to otherwise change the rats' movement and co-ordination, and had no other apparent side effects.

Boffins also checked the effects of the plant extract on the rats' brains through a technique called microdialysis. They had a close look at the tiny fluid samples from a reward-signalling area of the brain known as the nucleus accumbens, which sits near the base of the head.

When rats receive synthetic THC, levels of the reward chemical dopamine normally shoot up in the nucleus accumbens, but the plant extract blocked the release of dopamine in this brain region.

"The increases in dopamine are virtually non-existent because of MLA," the New Scientist quoted Goldberg as saying.

The scientists, however, are clueless as to the mechanism by which MLA works.

Goldberg also stressed the need for developing medications that may help cannabis addicts overcome their drug problem, and is of the opinion that more options, such as one based on MLA, must be explored.

"Each patient is different and what works in one might not work in another," said the researcher.

 

lilgrasshoppah

double-yew tee eff!!!

I'm too busy detoxing from my craving to celery to notice my craving for cannabis!!!

__________________
I got soul, But i'm not a soldier - The Killers

sterbo

Cannabis addicts? What a monumental waste of time.
Talk about "clueless"!
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Buzzby

Since cannabis doesn't create cravings, I doubt the conclusions of this study. It seems far more likely that MLA simply counteracts the effects of THC, something entirely different.

Enjoying something is not the same as craving it. I enjoy coffee ice cream but I'm not going to rob a convenience store in order to get it.

AFAIK, THC doesn't effect the production of dopamine. That's why it's not addictive.

Except that cannabis is not addictive for most people and when it is addictive, it's less addictive than coffee. For most of us, our "drug problem" is 1)finding some, 2)paying for it, and 3)avoiding involvement with The Law.

This sounds like a similar, but more honest, story. In that one, scientists came out and said that they were trying to develop a drug that would keep you from getting high.

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sterbo

It's interesting to note the relationship here between Goldberg's experiment for NIDA and the article Migz posted today -
Medical Marijuana One Step Away from FDA Development Process
05-24-07|ACLU

which, among other things, discusses the long term prejudice and intransigence of NIDA to allow independent researchers the use of marijuana due to the Federal Government's monopoly on the supply of marijuana that can be used in FDA-approved research.
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godfather

What is this craving you speak of?

I hardly see how they expect to make a profit selling to an imaginary market.

kcbennie

This is the most useless study I've ever heard of. The fact that this substance prevents you from getting high, it sounds more like a punishment than a benefit.

__________________
"My friend said 'Man, the weather is really trippy' and I said 'The weather's not trippy. It's just the way that you perceive the weather that is in fact trippy.' And then I though to myself 'I should've just said 'Yeah.''"

- Mitch Hedburg

Buzzby

How about courts, schools, and parents? A substance that would make it pointless to smoke weed would appeal to all of them.

godfather

That's true, I didn't think of that.

castklearr

And The After Effects Are....could Swallow Tongue....eyes Fall Out....frequent Urinating From The Angus.....and Can't Lay Down!

Otherwise You Won't Wanna A Joint!