Search results for "Endocannabinoid system"
showing 10 items of 153 documents
Fatty acid amide hydrolase controls mouse intestinal motility in vivo.
2005
Background & Aims: Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) catalyzes the hydrolysis both of the endocannabinoids (which are known to inhibit intestinal motility) and other bioactive amides (palmitoylethanolamide, oleamide, and oleoylethanolamide), which might affect intestinal motility. The physiologic role of FAAH in the gut is largely unexplored. In the present study, we evaluated the possible role of FAAH in regulating intestinal motility in mice in vivo. Methods: Motility was measured by evaluating the distribution of a fluorescent marker along the small intestine; FAAH messenger RNA (mRNA) levels were analyzed by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR); endocannabinoid level…
The endocannabinoid system controls food intake via olfactory processes
2014
Comment in Sensory systems: the hungry sense. [Nat Rev Neurosci. 2014] Inhaling: endocannabinoids and food intake. [Nat Neurosci. 2014]; International audience; Hunger arouses sensory perception, eventually leading to an increase in food intake, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. We found that cannabinoid type-1 (CB1) receptors promote food intake in fasted mice by increasing odor detection. CB1 receptors were abundantly expressed on axon terminals of centrifugal cortical glutamatergic neurons that project to inhibitory granule cells of the main olfactory bulb (MOB). Local pharmacological and genetic manipulations revealed that endocannabinoids and exogenous cannabinoid…
The endocannabinoid system controls key epileptogenic circuits in the hippocampus.
2006
SummaryBalanced control of neuronal activity is central in maintaining function and viability of neuronal circuits. The endocannabinoid system tightly controls neuronal excitability. Here, we show that endocannabinoids directly target hippocampal glutamatergic neurons to provide protection against acute epileptiform seizures in mice. Functional CB1 cannabinoid receptors are present on glutamatergic terminals of the hippocampal formation, colocalizing with vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (VGluT1). Conditional deletion of the CB1 gene either in cortical glutamatergic neurons or in forebrain GABAergic neurons, as well as virally induced deletion of the CB1 gene in the hippocampus, demonstrat…
Impaired cannabinoid receptor type 1 signaling interferes with stress-coping behavior in mice.
2007
Dysregulation of the endocannabinoid system is known to interfere with emotional processing of stressful events. Here, we studied the role of cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) signaling in stress-coping behaviors using the forced swim test (FST) with repeated exposures. We compared effects of genetic inactivation with pharmacological blockade of CB1 receptors both in male and female mice. In addition, we investigated potential interactions of the endocannabinoid system with monoaminergic and neurotrophin systems of the brain. Naive CB1 receptor-deficient mice (CB1-/-) showed increased passive stress-coping behaviors as compared to wild-type littermates (CB1+/+) in the FST, independent of se…
Differential diurnal variations of anandamide and 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol levels in rat brain.
2004
The endogenous ligands of cannabinoid receptors, also known as endocannabinoids, have been implicated in many physiological and pathological processes of the central nervous system. Here we show that the levels of the two major endocannabinoids, anandamide and 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol (2-AG), in four areas of the rat brain, change dramatically between the light and dark phases of the day. While anandamide levels in the nucleus accumbens, pre-frontal cortex, striatum and hippocampus were significantly higher in the dark phase, the opposite was observed with 2-AG, whose levels were significantly higher during the light phase in all four regions. We found that the activity of the fatty acid ami…
Adolescent binge‐ethanol accelerates cognitive impairment and β‐amyloid production and dysregulates endocannabinoid signaling in the hippocampus of A…
2019
Previous research in rodents suggests that the long‐term neurobehavioral disturbances induced by chronic ethanol (EtOH) exposure could be due to endocannabinoid system (ECS) alterations. Moreover, ECS failure has been proposed to mediate the cognitive impairment and β‐amyloid production in Alzheimer disease (AD). Thus, in the present study, we evaluated the effects of adolescent EtOH binge drinking on the cognitive disturbances, hippocampal β‐amyloid levels, and in the ECS expression on a transgenic mouse model (APP/PSEN, AZ) of AD. We exposed AZ and wild‐type mice to a binge‐drinking treatment during adolescence. At 6 and 12 months of age, we evaluated hippocampal‐dependent learning and me…
Myocardial hypertrophy is associated with inflammation and activation of endocannabinoid system in patients with aortic valve stenosis.
2013
article i nfo Article history: Received 1 February 2013 Accepted 22 March 2013 Aims: Endocannabinoids and their receptors have been associated with cardiac adaptation to injury, inflam- mation and fibrosis. Experimental studies suggested a role for inflammatory reaction and active remodeling in myocardial hypertrophy, but they have not been shown in human hypertrophy. We investigated the asso- ciation of the endocannabinoid system with myocardial hypertrophy in patients with aortic stenosis. Main methods: Myocardial biopsies were collected from patients with aortic stenosis (AS) and atrial myxoma as controls during surgery. Histological and molecular analysis of endocannabinoids and their r…
Paracrine Activation of Hepatic CB1 Receptors by Stellate Cell-Derived Endocannabinoids Mediates Alcoholic Fatty Liver
2008
SummaryAlcohol-induced fatty liver, a major cause of morbidity, has been attributed to enhanced hepatic lipogenesis and decreased fat clearance of unknown mechanism. Here we report that the steatosis induced in mice by a low-fat, liquid ethanol diet is attenuated by concurrent blockade of cannabinoid CB1 receptors. Global or hepatocyte-specific CB1 knockout mice are resistant to ethanol-induced steatosis and increases in lipogenic gene expression and have increased carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 activity, which, unlike in controls, is not reduced by ethanol treatment. Ethanol feeding increases the hepatic expression of CB1 receptors and upregulates the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycer…
Endocannabinoid Levels in Newborns in Relation to the Mode of Delivery.
2015
Objective This study aims to examine the endocannabinoid levels in newborns in relation to the mode of delivery. Study Design In this study, the concentrations of the endocannabinoids anandamide (AEA), 2-arachidonylglycerol (2-AG), palmitoylethanolamine (PEA), and the metabolite arachidonic acid (AA) in umbilical cord vein blood of 49 newborns was determined by quantitative mass spectrometry using liquid chromatography multiple reaction monitoring. The newborns were divided by their mode of delivery. Only healthy newborns born after 34 0/7 gestational weeks without birth complications were included. Results The concentration of AEA, PEA, and AA was significantly higher in vaginal deliver…
Alterations in the Hippocampal Endocannabinoid System in Diet-Induced Obese Mice
2010
The endocannabinoid (eCB) system plays central roles in the regulation of food intake and energy expenditure. Its alteration in activity contributes to the development and maintenance of obesity. Stimulation of the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1receptor) increases feeding, enhances reward aspects of eating, and promotes lipogenesis, whereas its blockade decreases appetite, sustains weight loss, increases insulin sensitivity, and alleviates dysregulation of lipid metabolism. The hypothesis has been put forward that the eCB system is overactive in obesity. Hippocampal circuits are not directly involved in the neuronal control of food intake and appetite, but they play important roles in hed…