cannabisnews.com: Nerves Need Marijuana-Like Substance Nerves Need Marijuana-Like Substance Posted by FoM on May 20, 2001 at 07:02:22 PT By Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Science Writer Source: San Francisco Chronicle Even if you have never smoked a joint in your life, a cannabis-like substance occupies a special niche in your brain, fine-tuning the nerve connections that control memory and most other thought processes. New research into how these so-called "endogenous cannabinoids" work may help scientists understand what goes on inside the heads of those who smoke pot -- which floods the nervous system with far more of the active ingredient than the brain can supply on its own. Last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the medicinal use of marijuana came as brain scientists were celebrating profound new discoveries about how cannabis works in our heads. The landmark studies, published recently in the journals Nature and Neuron by scientists at the University of California at San Francisco, Harvard Medical School and Kanazawa Medical University in Japan, suggest the brain cooks up its own marijuana-like ingredients in order to tweak the all- important connections that link nerve cells. Two of these marijuana-like substances have been discovered so far, docking in the very same nerve-cell receptors used by THC, the active ingredient in pot. It's as if the brain has its own secret stash. But despite years of research, scientists had no clear idea until now what its purpose might be. "Were we built to smoke marijuana?" wondered Jeff Isaacson, an assistant professor at the University of California at San Diego, who contributed to the latest findings by UC San Francisco graduate student Rachel Wilson and neuroscientist Roger Nicoll. They set out to discover how nerve cells "talk back" to one another in a brain region called the hippocampus, which is crucial in memory and learning -- but not, coincidentally, one of the principal areas affected by smoking pot. The back talk involved is actually a feedback loop that allows a nerve cell, or neuron, receiving an impulse from another neuron to fire back its own signal, thus modifying critical neurochemical activity at the source. This so-called "retrograde signaling" is one key way neurons can dial into one another, allowing effective communication to take place at the cellular level. There are essentially two kinds of brain cells, according to Stanford University neuroscientist Dan Madison. There are the principal cells that make up what he likened to a superhighway system of long-range information movement, and there are "interneurons," which are like traffic signals along that highway. "Cannabinoids are a way for the principal cells to regulate the traffic lights," Madison said. After two years of laboratory study and frustrating dead ends, Wilson and Nicoll found that the role of the brain's cannabis is to make the feedback system work. Harvard researchers, working independently, found an essentially identical role for endogenous cannabinoids in another part of the brain, called the cerebellum, which helps to control motor function. "It's a way for a nerve cell to adjust the gain or intensity of the information coming into it," Nicoll said. "It turns up the amplifier, in a way, and allows more input to get through." These adjustments seem to have an important role in the brain's uncanny ability to synchronize the firing of nerve cells scattered throughout the brain, linking behavior with mood and memory with vision or hearing. Thousands of signals thus become molded into vast oscillations, helping the brain bind together different aspects of perception into something we can experience as a coherent state of mind -- a feeling of being in love, perhaps, when we look at someone. If that's the case, the implications for marijuana smokers seem rather profound. Marijuana receptors are just about everywhere inside our skulls, but the brain's natural cannabis is present in minute amounts, and its effects are subtle: a fleeting and localized shift in brain chemistry in particular areas of the nervous system. When you smoke a joint, researchers said, you essentially swamp that whole system for however long the buzz lasts by flooding the brain with THC. This may help to explain why marijuana users report the drug has such diverse and often idiosyncratic effects on mood, memory, appetite, vision, pain and motor control. Some users report an odd stretching of their sense of time. Others make connections -- humorous, sometimes -- between things that normally don't seem related. And memory is clearly impaired, as is motor function. Such effects start to make sense, researcher Wilson said, in light of the new insights into how natural cannabinoids function. "We suspect that marijuana is sort of hijacking the system, doing what the brain normally does but in overdrive," she said. Marijuana researchers have found no reliable evidence of permanent damage arising from this hijacking, and the latest experiments are said to be essentially neutral as to the merits of allowing medicinal use of pot. The new brain findings may help drug researchers find ways to mimic pot's effects, perhaps leading to development of drugs that similarly modify synaptic connections but in a more controlled way. The research also gives scientists a topic with which they can liven up their social lives when they venture outside the lab. Nicoll, for one, likes to look audiences right in the eye, wag his finger and insist that during the entire two-year research project he "never once inhaled." "Marijuana and the brain is a fun field to be in," Isaacson, Nicoll's former graduate student, said. "You talk about this with people at parties, and they're actually interested." Note: Brain's self-made 'cannabis' essential to normal thought.Complete Title: Nerves Need Marijuana-Like Substance To Stay in Touch, Studies Find Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Carl Hall, Chronicle Science Writer Published: Sunday, May 20, 2001 Copyright: 2001 San Francisco Chronicle Page A - 3 Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Related Articles:Expanding Our Minds About Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9698.shtmlNatural Cannabis 'Better Than Extracts' http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9279.shtml CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by Chad567 on August 11, 2002 at 14:18:06 PT: First Hand Knowledge of the effects of alcohol/Pot I had been taking paxil for about 2 months, before my temptations toward partying kicked in. I have to say that everytime I smoked, I never got the intensity of the high that I used to before taking paxil. As with any pill in the same category as paxil it increases the effects when used with alcohol. If you do decide to drink, I recommend not getting drunk, but tipsy. Because when i decided to get drunk and stoned I experienced "rage". For some reason the interaction triggered violence. It also has a lot to do with how much of the medication you are taking. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by LilScoop on February 15, 2002 at 00:04:12 PT: Marijuana and Paxil I love pot, but I haven't been able to smoke it as often as I used to and want to, because I have begun having major panic attacks if I smoke too much. I feel like I'm going to pass out, I start shaking and twitching, my heart starts racing and I feel an overall sense that I'm going to die. I even went to the emergency room one night because I was so scared. I'm not sure what exactly could be causing these attacks, unless maybe the pot is interacting w/ my Paxil. It doesn't happen every time I smoke, but it has begun to happen more frequently. I can't think of anything that I do differently when I smoke that my trigger these attacks. If anyone out there has any suggestions, feel free to e-mail me at lilscoop27 aol.com. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Kari on January 06, 2002 at 12:12:43 PT: Marijuana/Paxil Though being a smoker MAY have slowed the initial effect of Paxil in my system, it has been a true lifesaver in getting off of that drug (which did nothing but make me lethargic). As far as smoking throughout being on Paxil, I found no signs of negative interaction - I believe Paxil may have lessened the effect of marijuana, as I was already too drained from the drug. Thank you for bringing LOGICAL, FACTUAL information about marijuana to people's attention. This will be the only way to combat the ignorant, ( and slowly dissipating!) MISINFORMATION about cannabis. In my lifetime, I would like to see it become public knowledge that weed - the illegal, is less damaging than alcohol - the legal. Have you heard of Fetal Marijuana syndrom?? Because I haven't, and I've never met a physically abusive pot smoker, either. If there's anything the "little guy" can do to spread accurate information, let me know at crazy72575 aol.com. In the meantime, I will forward this article to my fellow cannibis friendly circle. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Carolyn on May 27, 2001 at 14:15:49 PT: researched effects of pot and paxil I would like to know effects of pot with paxil i.e.increased depression/anxiety or opposite effect,effects on concentrationor personality changes, anything juicy [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by lookinside on May 20, 2001 at 08:44:29 PT: getting it... sounds like these folks actually did it right...theirresults explain alot about how cannabis works...it soundsalot more reasonable than anything i've heard so far... [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: