Plants endocannabinoid ligands

Marijuana and hashish are derivatives of the cannabis sativa plant 919 Cannabinoid effects in the CNS are mediated by the CB1 receptor 919 Endocannabinoids are endogenous ligands for the CB1 receptor 919 Endocannabinoids serve as retrograde messengers 920 There are many similarities between endogenous opioid and cannabinoid systems 921... 

Fig. 1. Representative structures ofthe different cannabinoid receptor ligand classes the plant cannabinoid, A -tetrahydrocannabinol the endocannabinoid, arachidonoyl ethanolamide (anandamide) the synthetic pyrazole inverse agonist AM281 and the potent aminoalkylindole agonist AM2233. Both AM281 and AM2233 contain an iodine atom that has been labeled with radioiodine for in vitro and in vivo binding experiments...

Endocannabinoids might act as epigenetic factors, through the activation of cannabinoid receptors which emerge early in development. As to plant-derived cannabinoids, by mimicking the effects of natural ligands of cannabinoid receptors these would interfere with the sequence of events that results in the expression of several genes involved in brain development and, in this way, modify the maturation of several neurotransmitter systems (Ferndndez-Ruiz et al. 1992,1994,1996, 1999,2000). 

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