Pregnenolone can protect the brain from cannabis intoxication.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Vallee M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4057431 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Pregnenolone can protect the brain from cannabis intoxication.
Vallée Monique M Vitiello Sergio S Bellocchio Luigi L Hébert-Chatelain Etienne E Monlezun Stéphanie S Martin-Garcia Elena E Kasanetz Fernando F Baillie Gemma L GL Panin Francesca F Cathala Adeline A Roullot-Lacarrière Valérie V Fabre Sandy S Hurst Dow P DP Lynch Diane L DL Shore Derek M DM Deroche-Gamonet Véronique V Spampinato Umberto U Revest Jean-Michel JM Maldonado Rafael R Reggio Patricia H PH Ross Ruth A RA Marsicano Giovanni G Piazza Pier Vincenzo PV
Science (New York, N.Y.) 20140101 6166
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 ...[more]
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