2. Academic Validation
  3. Pregnenolone can protect the brain from cannabis intoxication

Pregnenolone can protect the brain from cannabis intoxication

  • Science. 2014 Jan 3;343(6166):94-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1243985.
Monique Vallée 1,  Sergio Vitiello,  Luigi Bellocchio,  Etienne Hébert-Chatelain,  Stéphanie Monlezun,  Elena Martin-Garcia,  Fernando Kasanetz,  Gemma L Baillie,  Francesca Panin,  Adeline Cathala,  Valérie Roullot-Lacarrière,  Sandy Fabre,  Dow P Hurst,  Diane L Lynch,  Derek M Shore,  Véronique Deroche-Gamonet,  Umberto Spampinato,  Jean-Michel Revest,  Rafael Maldonado,  Patricia H Reggio,  Ruth A Ross,  Giovanni Marsicano,  Pier Vincenzo Piazza
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 INSERM, Neurocentre Magendie, Physiopathologie de la Plasticité Neuronale, U862, F-33000 Bordeaux, France.
PMID: 24385629 DOI: 10.1126/science.1243985
Abstract

Pregnenolone is considered the inactive precursor of all steroid Hormones, and its potential functional effects have been largely uninvestigated. The administration of the main active principle of Cannabis sativa (marijuana), Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), substantially increases the synthesis of pregnenolone in the brain via activation of the type-1 cannabinoid (CB1) receptor. Pregnenolone then, acting as a signaling-specific inhibitor of the CB1 receptor, reduces several effects of THC. This negative feedback mediated by pregnenolone reveals a previously unknown paracrine/autocrine loop protecting the brain from CB1 receptor overactivation that could open an unforeseen approach for the treatment of cannabis intoxication and addiction.

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