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Marijuana Increases Brain Cell Formation in the Hippocampus
Published: 12/13/2011 by David A
Often times, medical marijuana patients are stigmatized as “stupid” and “lazy.” As insulting as these assumptions may
be, marijuana activists have evidence that their medicine actually increases brain activity!
When comparing the positive effects marijuana has on brain activity in comparison to the harmful effects {on brain activity} of both alcohol and tobacco, the legalization of marijuana seems like a NO-BRAINER!
In 2005, Professor Xia Zhang, amongst some of his colleagues at Saskatchewan University, tested a synthetic form of THC (HU210) on a group of test rats to observe the effect that HU210 has on them. Particularly, the study focused on neurogenesis, which is brain cell formation and generation. The rats were given high doses of HU210, the THC-like compound, twice a day & everyday for ten days.
After the ten day study, the THC-like compound increased the rate of brain cell formation in the hippocampus by 40%! The hippocampus is the part of the brain used for memory forming, organizing, and storing. Symptoms of anxiety & depression in the rats also appeared to decrease.
While marijuana has been proven to have positive neurological effects, both tobacco & alcohol related studies show that each substance actually decreases brain cell formation. It is atrocious to think about the substances that the U.S. government allows its’ citizens to consume. Tobacco is literally the only legal product that will actually harm you if you use it correctly.
Why is the government heavily opposing marijuana if it increases the rate of brain cell formation? Well, too many people still think of marijuana users as “stupid” and “lazy.” With such a negative outlook on marijuana users, combined with false ideas they have about the medicine, citizens will unknowingly make judgments about marijuana.
More studies like the one presented above need to be released to the public by the mass. If the public knew the positive effects on marijuana, legalization will come much faster.
a good starting point. . .
lonny due from los angeles, ca - 01/04/2012 - 05:26 pm
This article is a great beginning in what will be a long waged war in performing the act of legalizing marijuana. However more and more articles such as this need to be written and more importantly they news to be read. There is a national misinterpretation of what and who cannabis users are and why we smoke. It is our responsibility to educate those who do not understand.
This is very good information
Javier Tenorio from Los Angeles CA - 01/04/2012 - 03:35 pm
There is more what MMJ can do than brain cell formation, it can boost creativeness.
Hippocampal Neurogenesis
DM Shake from Los Angeles, CA - 12/30/2011 - 09:18 pm
This article makes valid assertions in support of marijuana’s positive effects on brain cell growth in the hippocampus, especially compared to the effects of nicotine and alcohol on hippocampal neurogenesis. While the author brings up good talking points, he does not address in enough detail the crux of the issue presented in Professor Xia Zhang’s scientific paper* about the effect of cannabinoids on brain activity.
It is true that the hippocampus plays an important role in short and long term memory formation, but it is also well-associated with both causing and relieving anxiety and depression, which is what Dr. Zhang’s paper addresses. The goal of study was to test the hypothesis that the synthetic cannabinoid HU210 is able to promote hippocampal neurogenesis, leading to the anxiolytic (anxiety relieving) and antidepressant effects of cannabinoids. Nowhere in the paper is it claimed that marijuana makes users more or less “lazy” or “stupid,” although there are several studies that suggest marijuana use correlates with lowered cognitive abilities compared to non-use (this is a topic of conversation for another post, however).
Further, the claim that marijuana increases brain activity must be clarified. “Brain activity” in the sense described in Dr. Zhang’s paper refers to the role of HU210 (the synthetic cannabinoid) on formation of newborn neurons. HU210 specifically promotes cell proliferation, but not differentiation, meaning HU210 activity increases growth of “blank” cells in the brain, which ultimately reduce anxiety and depression. While some of these blank cells may be functionally integrated to increase hippocampus-dependent learning and memory processes, this paper considers the role of these cells in anxiolytic and antidepressant capacities, not in terms of learning ability.
The results of this study are a little too simplified in this article, as well. Dr. Zhang’s group tested more than just one group of mice for different amounts of time, and considered the acute and chronic effects of HU210 in high and low doses. As presented in the paper, “it has been shown that acute, high doses of … cannabinoids produced anxiety-like effects in rats or depression-like effects in mice. We observed here that chronic administration of high, but not low, doses of HU210 exerts anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects. To make things more complicated, acute, low doses of cannabinoids have been found to induce anxiolytic-like effects in rodents.” These results suggest that chronic use of high doses of marijuana, as well as acute use in low doses, reduces anxiety and depression while high dosage, acute use causes increased anxiety and depression.
The claims made in this article of reduced neurogenesis from alcohol and tobacco smoke are well-founded. It is not so important that brain cell formation increased by 40%, however, rather that cannabinoids are the only illicit drug that can promote adult hippocampal neurogenesis following chronic administration. Increased hippocampal neurogenesis appears to underlie the mechanism of anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects produced by a high dose of chronic HU210 treatment, while chronic administration of the major drugs of abuse including opiates, alcohol, nicotine, and cocaine has been reported to suppress neural growth in the hippocampus in adult rats and lead to increased anxiety, depression and physical addiction to the drugs.
It is interesting to note that hippocampal neurogenesis was not the outcome of hippocampal neuronal death, as Dr. Zhang et al did not detect neuronal loss or dying hippocampal neurons following chronic HU210 injection.
Lastly, it is important to make the distinction between the synthetic cannabinoid used in this study and the slurry of cannabinoids present in natural cannabis; while HU210 may indeed affect hippocampal neurogenesis, the effects of naturally occurring cannabis might be different due to the presence of the different cannabinoids. Also, since this study administered the drug via injections, the typical route of administration for human users, ie smoking, may present different results.
*Xia Zhang, et al. “Cannabinoids Promote Embryonic and Adult Hippocampus Neurogenesis and Produce Anxiolytic- and Antidepressant-like Effects.” The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2005, Volume 115, Issue 11. (http://www.jci.org/articles/view/25509)
