Search results for "Endocannabinoid system"
showing 10 items of 153 documents
Subsynaptic Distribution, Lipid Raft Targeting and G Protein-Dependent Signalling of the Type 1 Cannabinoid Receptor in Synaptosomes from the Mouse H…
2021
Numerous studies have investigated the roles of the type 1 cannabinoid receptor (CB1) in glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons. Here, we used the cell-type-specific CB1 rescue model in mice to gain insight into the organizational principles of plasma membrane targeting and Gαi/o protein signalling of the CB1 receptor at excitatory and inhibitory terminals of the frontal cortex and hippocampus. By applying biochemical fractionation techniques and Western blot analyses to synaptosomal membranes, we explored the subsynaptic distribution (pre-, post-, and extra-synaptic) and CB1 receptor compartmentalization into lipid and non-lipid raft plasma membrane microdomains and the signalling properties.…
Cannabinoid receptor 1 modulates the autophagic flux independent of mTOR- and BECLIN1-complex
2013
Cannabinoid Receptor 1 (CB1) has been initially described as the receptor for Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol in the central nervous system (CNS), mediating retrograde synaptic signaling of the endocannabinoid system. Beside its expression in various CNS regions, CB1 is ubiquituous in peripheral tissues, where it mediates, among other activities, the cell's energy homeostasis. We sought to examine the role of CB1 in the context of the evolutionarily conserved autophagic machinery, a main constituent of the regulation of the intracellular energy status. Manipulating CB1 by siRNA knockdown in mammalian cells caused an elevated autophagic flux, while the expression of autophagy-related genes rema…
Circuit Specific Functions of Cannabinoid CB1 Receptor in the Balance of Investigatory Drive and Exploration
2011
Well balanced novelty seeking and exploration are fundamental behaviours for survival and are found to be dysfunctional in several psychiatric disorders. Recent studies suggest that the endocannabinoid (eCB) system is an important control system for investigatory drive. Pharmacological treatment of rodents with cannabinergic drugs results in altered social and object investigation. Interestingly, contradictory results have been obtained, depending on the treatment, drug concentration and experimental conditions. The cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor, a central component of the eCB system, is predominantly found at the synapses of two opposing neuronal populations, i.e. on inhibitory GABAerg…
Acetaldehyde as a drug of abuse: insight into AM281 administration on operant-conflict paradigm in rats
2013
Increasing evidence focuses on acetaldehyde (ACD) as the mediator of the rewarding and motivational properties of ethanol. Indeed, ACD stimulates dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens and it is self-administered under different conditions. Besides the dopaminergic transmission, the endocannabinoid system has been reported to play an important role in ethanol central effects, modulating primary alcohol rewarding effect, drug-seeking and relapse behaviour. Drug motivational properties are highlighted in operant paradigms which include response-contingent punishment, a behavioural equivalent of compulsive drug use despite adverse consequences. The aim of this study was thus to characterize…
The endocannabinoid system in anxiety, fear memory and habituation.
2011
Evidence for the involvement of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in anxiety and fear has been accumulated, providing leads for novel therapeutic approaches. In anxiety, a bidirectional influence of the ECS has been reported, whereby anxiolytic and anxiogenic responses have been obtained after both increases and decreases of the endocannabinoid tone. The recently developed genetic tools have revealed different but complementary roles for the cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor on GABAergic and glutamatergic neuronal populations. This dual functionality, together with the plasticity of CB1 receptor expression, particularly on GABAergic neurons, as induced by stressful and rewarding experiences…
Increased endocannabinoid levels reduce the development of precancerous lesions in the mouse colon
2007
Colorectal cancer is an increasingly important cause of death in Western countries. Endocannabinoids inhibit colorectal carcinoma cell proliferation in vitro. In this paper, we investigated the involvement of endocannabinoids on the formation of aberrant crypt foci (ACF, earliest preneoplastic lesions) in the colon mouse in vivo. ACF were induced by azoxymethane (AOM); fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and cannabinoid receptor messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) levels were analyzed by the quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR); endocannabinoid levels were measured by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry; caspase-3 and caspase-9 expressions were measured by W…
Cell type‐specific genetic reconstitution of CB1 receptor subsets to assess their role in exploratory behaviour, sociability, and memory
2021
Several studies support the notion that exploratory behaviour depends on the functionality of the cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor in a cell type-specific manner. Mice lacking the CB1 receptor in forebrain GABAergic or dorsal telencephalic glutamatergic neurons have served as essential tools revealing the necessary CB1 receptor functions in these two neuronal populations. However, whether these specific CB1 receptor populations are also sufficient within the endocannabinoid system for wild-type-like exploratory behaviour has remained unknown. To evaluate cell-type-specific sufficiency of CB1 receptor signalling exclusively in dorsal telencephalic glutamatergic neurons (Glu-CB1-RS) or in fo…
Postnatal development of cannabinoid receptor type 1 expression in rodent somatosensory cortex
2007
Endocannabinoids are powerful modulators of synaptic transmission that act on presynaptic cannabinoid receptors. Cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) is the dominant receptor in the CNS, and is present in many brain regions, including sensory cortex. To investigate the potential role of CB1 receptors in cortical development, we examined the developmental expression of CB1 in rodent primary somatosensory (barrel) cortex, using immunohistochemistry with a CB1-specific antibody. We found that before postnatal day (P) 6, CB1 receptor staining was present exclusively in the cortical white matter, and that CB1 staining appeared in the gray matter between P6 and P20 in a specific laminar pattern. CB1…
Cannabinoids mediate analgesia largely via peripheral type 1 cannabinoid receptors in nociceptors
2007
Although endocannabinoids constitute one of the first lines of defense against pain, the anatomical locus and the precise receptor mechanisms underlying cannabinergic modulation of pain are uncertain. Clinical exploitation of the system is severely hindered by the cognitive deficits, memory impairment, motor disturbances and psychotropic effects resulting from the central actions of cannabinoids. We deleted the type 1 cannabinoid receptor (CB1) specifically in nociceptive neurons localized in the peripheral nervous system of mice, preserving its expression in the CNS, and analyzed these genetically modified mice in preclinical models of inflammatory and neuropathic pain. The nociceptor-spec…
Direct suppression of CNS autoimmune inflammation via the cannabinoid receptor CB1 on neurons and CB2 on autoreactive T cells.
2007
The cannabinoid system is immunomodulatory and has been targeted as a treatment for the central nervous system (CNS) autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis. Using an animal model of multiple sclerosis, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), we investigated the role of the CB(1) and CB(2) cannabinoid receptors in regulating CNS autoimmunity. We found that CB(1) receptor expression by neurons, but not T cells, was required for cannabinoid-mediated EAE suppression. In contrast, CB(2) receptor expression by encephalitogenic T cells was critical for controlling inflammation associated with EAE. CB(2)-deficient T cells in the CNS during EAE exhibited reduced levels of apoptosis, a higher…