A team of researchers led by Prof. Baban Babak of Augusta University have recently published an article in the Journal of Alzheimer's disease, in which they show that administering cannabidiol improves cognitive function in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Cannabidiol, a chemical compound found in the cannabis plant, can act to reduce inflammation, by suppressing the production of pro-inflammatory factors and preventing the activation of inflammatory cells. Recent studies indicate that inflammation may contribute to the development of AD, promoting the deposition of amyloid plaques in the brain. In their new publication, Prof. Babak and colleagues sought to examine the effect of regular cannabidiol administration on inflammation in AD, using the 5xFAD mouse model of early-onset familial AD.
Tracking the expression of IL-33 and TREM2, two inflammatory proteins that are thought to promote clearance of amyloid beta, they observed that cannabidiol administration increased the expression of these proteins in the brain. Alongside, the researchers observed a reduction in amyloid plaques in the brains of mice treated with cannabidiol, and an improvement in cognitive function. Further studies are ongoing, looking at whether cannabidiol can help prevent the onset of AD symptoms in this animal model, and evaluating different methods of cannabidiol administration.
https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad210026
