研究发现大麻使人产生特殊感觉原因

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英文原文报道：

How do cannabinoids make us feel that way?
Marijuana and its main psychoactive component, THC, exert a plethora of behavioral and autonomic effects on humans and animals. Some of these effects are the cause of the widespread illicit use of marijuana, while others might be involved in the potential therapeutic use of this drug for the treatment of several neuronal disorders.

The great majority of these effects of THC are mediated by cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1), which is abundantly expressed in the central nervous system. The exact anatomical and neuronal substrates of each action, however, were previously unknown.

Using an advanced genetic approach, Krisztina Monory and colleagues at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz discovered that specific neuronal subpopulations mediate the distinct effects of THC. Their work is published online this week in the open-access journal PLoS Biology.

In their study, the researchers generated mutant mice lacking CB1 expression in defined neuronal subpopulations but not in others. These mice were treated with THC, and typical effects of the drug on motor behavior, pain, and thermal sensation were scored. Their discovery of the neural substrates underlying specific effects of THC could lead to a refined interpretation of the pharmacological actions of cannabinoids. Moreover, these data might provide the rationale for the development of drugs capable of selectively activating CB1 in specific neuronal subpopulations, thereby better exploiting cannabinoids’ potential therapeutic properties.

Citation: Monory K, Blaudzun H, Massa F, Kaiser N, Lemberger T, et al (2007) Genetic dissection of behavioural and autonomic effects of D9-tetrahydrocannabinol in mice. PLoS Biol 5(10): e269. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050269

Source: Public Library of Science
译文：

大麻和其中富含的主要精神类成分THC（四氢大麻酚）能使人类和动物产生过度的行为作用。其中的一些作用是造成目前大麻大量违法使用的原因，而另外一些则可能被用于治疗某些神经异常的疾病。

THC产生的绝大部分作用是由大麻素受体1（CB1）引起的，这种受体在中枢神经系统中得到广泛表达。但是在这之前，其行为的精确解剖学和神经学本质并不清楚。

利用一种先进的基因分析方法，来自德国Mainz的Johannes Gutenberg大学的Kristina Monory和她的同事发现了是特殊的神经组分造成了THC的以上独特作用。他们的研究结果发表在在线版刊物《PLoS生物学》上。

在研究中，科学家利用了一种基因变异的老鼠，该老鼠在特定的神经组分中缺少CB1表达，而在其它神经组分中则正常。然后科学家用THC处理这些老鼠，接着评估药物引起的典型行为：运动、疼痛、热感等。他们获得的引起THC特殊作用的神经本质能精确解释大麻化学成分的药理学作用。更重要的是这些数据提供的原理能帮助制造选择性激发特定神经组分中CB1的药物，从而更好的利用大麻化学成分进行医学治疗。