Can Medical Marijuana’s Chemicals May Protect Cells???

As more countries legalize Cannabis treatment, scientists are learning how the plant's chemicals may help conditions ranging from brain injuries to cancer.

They might protect the brain from the effects of trauma, ease the spasms of multiple sclerosis and reduce epileptic seizures. 




Further preliminary work indicates that the chemicals may slow the growth of tumors and reduce brain damage in Alzheimer's disease.

-After inducing human breast cancer tumors in mice, researchers in the U.K. found they could shrink the tumors by administering THC. The chemical may disrupt cancer cell growth as it binds to CB2 receptors, which are much more abundant on cancer cells than on healthy ones. 

-Taken together, CBD & THC are promising agents for inhibiting breast cancer progression.By influencing the tumor microenvironment and the immune system,they are able to reduce inflammation, inhibit tumor cell growth, induce apoptosis, and cause autophagy

-At the University of South Carolina, a team discovered that THC could reduce the inflammation associated with autoimmune diseases by suppressing the activity of certain genes involved in the immune response.

-And at the University of South Florida, researchers working with cells in a lab showed that extremely low concentrations of THC could reduce production of beta amyloid, the protein that forms the plaque abundant in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. 

(This article was originally published with the title "Marijuana's Medical Future" in Scientific American 312, 2, 32-34 (February 2015)

doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0215-32)

Sources: https://www.scientificamerican.com
             https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov