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Cannabinoids Could Offer Relief For Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Bath, United Kingdom: Cannabinoids may stimulate healing in the inflamed lining of the gastrointestinal tract, according to clinical trial data published in the August issue of the journal Gatroenterology.

A research team at the University of Bath, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology found that human tissues from the gastrointestinal lining of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) contained large quantities of cannabinoid receptors. Activation of specific receptors promotes healing of the gastrointestinal membrane, and could offer therapeutic relief to patients suffering from inflammatory disorders such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, authors found.

The study's findings are "the first [clinical] evidence that very selective cannabis-derived treatments may be useful as future therapeutic strategies in the treatment" of inflammatory bowel disease, said lead author Karen Wright.

A previous 2003 review published in the journal Expert Opinion in Investigative Drugs noted that the human digestive tract contains various endogenous cannabinoids (marijuana-like compounds produced naturally by the body) and cannabinoid receptors, and theorized that cannabinoids may one day "provide new therapeutics for the treatment of a number of gastrointestinal diseases," including gastric ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the study, "Differential expression of cannabinoid receptors in the human colon: cannabinoids promote epithelial wound healing," is available in the August issue of the journal Gastroenterology.




one day ill be in a compassionate state...

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Background & Aims: Two G-protein—coupled cannabinoid receptors, termed CB1 and CB2, have been identified and several mammalian enteric nervous systems express CB1 receptors and produce endocannabinoids. An immunomodulatory role for the endocannabinoid system in gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders has been proposed and this study sought to determine the location of both cannabinoid receptors in human colon and to investigate epithelial receptor function.

Methods: The location of CB1 and CB2 receptors in human colonic tissue was determined by immunohistochemistry. Primary colonic epithelial cells were treated with both synthetic and endogenous cannabinoids in vitro, and biochemical coupling of the receptors to known signaling events was determined by immunoblotting. Human colonic epithelial cell lines were used in cannabinoid-binding studies and as a model for in vitro wound-healing experiments.

Results: CB1-receptor immunoreactivity was evident in normal colonic epithelium, smooth muscle, and the submucosal myenteric plexus. CB1- and CB2-receptor expression was present on plasma cells in the lamina propria, whereas only CB2 was present on macrophages. CB2 immunoreactivity was seen in the epithelium of colonic tissue characteristic of inflammatory bowel disease. Cannabinoids enhanced epithelial wound closure either alone or in combination with lysophosphatidic acid through a CB1—lysophosphatidic acid 1 heteromeric receptor complex.

Conclusions: CB1 receptors are expressed in normal human colon and colonic epithelium is responsive biochemically and functionally to cannabinoids. Increased epithelial CB2-receptor expression in human inflammatory bowel disease tissue implies an immunomodulatory role that may impact on mucosal immunity.