In recent years, cannabis has been at the center of one of the most important developments in modern science, which has significantly advanced our understanding of health and disease. Research on marijuana’s effects led directly to the discovery of a major biochemical signaling system in the human body – the endocannabinoid system – which plays a pivotal role in regulating a wide range of physiological processes that affect our mood, our blood pressure, our bone density, our metabolism, our intestinal fortitude, our energy level, how we experience pain, stress, hunger, and much more.
“By using a plant that has been around for thousands of years, we discovered a new physiological system of immense importance,” says Israeli scientist Raphael Mechoulam. “We wouldn’t have been able to get there if we had not looked at the plant.”
Described by Mechoulam as “a medicinal treasure trove,” cannabis contains more than 100 unique biologically active compounds known as “cannabinoids,” including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). THC causes the high that cannabis is famous for, CBD does not; both have important therapeutic attributes.
In addition to phytocannabinoids produced by the plant, there are endogenous cannabinoids – marijuana-like molecules – that occur naturally in the human brain and body. And there are also synthetic cannabinoids created by pharmaceutical researchers, who are developing new medicines that target the endocannabinoid system for therapeutic benefit.
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Some of these novel synthetic compounds activate the same cannabinoid receptors – CB1 and CB2 – in the brain and body that respond pharmacologically to THC and other cannabis components.
Medical scientists are also experimenting with synthetic drugs designed to improve “endocannabinoid tone” without binding directly to cannabinoid receptors.
Here are nine strategies that scientists are currently pursuing in an effort to harness the healing potential of the endocannabinoid system:
1. Single-Molecule Plant Cannabinoids
Dronabinol, marketed in pill form as Marinol, is a single-molecule THC extract combined with sesame oil. It got fast-tracked for approval by the Food and Drug Administration in 1985 in response to rising patient demand for medical marijuana.
Other THC preparations are also on the FDA’s radar, including Syndros, a liquid THC drug produced by Insys. But patented single-molecule THC is a poor substitute for whole plant cannabis.
Even though it is highly psychoactive and potentially dysphoric, pharmaceutical THC is legally accessible in all 50 states as a prescription medication.
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Cannabidiol, unlike pure THC, is not yet legal in all 50 states. But CBD will soon become a legal pharmaceutical, as the FDA is poised to approve Epidiolex, a botanically derived anti-seizure medication produced by GW Pharmaceuticals. Epidiolex is pure CBD with a dash of cannabidivarin (CBDV), a “minor” cannabinoid that also has potent anti-epileptic properties.
Along with the imminent advent of pharmaceutical CBD, several R&D firms have begun to harvest single-molecule cannabinoids, such as CBDV, from a yeast substrate. As this biotechnology improves, drug developers and pharmacists will have access to numerous single-molecule cannabis compounds.
2. Synthetic Cannabinoid Analogs
Scientists have created synthetic analogs of plant cannabinoids for research purposes and for commercial sale and distribution. Nabilone, a synthetic THC analog, was developed by Eli Lilly and Co. as a treatment for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.
Marketed under the trade name Cesamet, this synthetic cannabinoid is used as an adjunct therapy for chronic pain management in Canada and other countries. Clinical trials of Nabilone have indicated some effectiveness for fibromyalgia, Parkinson’s, PTSD-related nightmares, irritable bowel disease, and multiple sclerosis.
Researchers are using various synthetic analogs to investigate the biochemical pathways and molecular mechanisms of the endocannabinoid system. Some of these compounds (such as WIN55,212-2 and CP55,940) bind to both cannabinoid receptors – CB1 and CB2 – much like THC. Other experimental drugs target only one type of cannabinoid receptor and not the other.
A cannabinoid agonist binds to a cell receptor and causes it to initiate a signaling cascade that modulates various physiological processes and protects neurons against toxic insults. A cannabinoid antagonist binds to a cell receptor and prevents it from signaling.
3. Synthetic Cannabinoid Antagonists
Cannabinoid CB1 receptors, which mediate the psychoactive effects of THC, are concentrated in the brain and central nervous system. When THC binds to CB1, it can make a person feel stoned – and hungry. The “munchies,” scientists confirmed, are linked to stimulation of CB1 receptors in areas of the brain that regulate hunger and satiety. If activated, CB1 receptors induce appetite; if blocked, they reduce it.
“SR141716,” a synthetic CB1 antagonist developed by the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis, was initially utilized as a research tool: By blocking CB1 and monitoring which functions were altered, scientists advanced their understanding of the endocannabinoid system.
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Sanofi strategists believed they had invented the perfect diet pill, and they promoted SR141716 as an appetite suppressant in Europe. But the diet drug, sold as “Rimonabant,” proved to be too blunt an instrument. Before long, the synthetic CB1 antagonist was pulled from circulation because of dangerous side effects – high blood pressure, nausea, vomiting, anxiety, mood swings, depression, headaches, seizures, sleep disorders, and a heightened risk of suicide.
If nothing else, the CB1 antagonist debacle provided vivid evidence that a well-functioning endocannabinoid system is essential for good health.
4. Peripherally Restricted CB1 Agonists
Cannabinoid CB1 receptors, the most prevalent protein receptors in the human brain, influence many neurological functions, including marijuana’s mood-altering effects. CB1 receptors are also expressed in the enteric nervous system (the gut), the liver, kidneys, heart and other peripheral organs.
Stimulating CB1 receptors can deliver significant therapeutic benefits, but THC’s psychoactivity limits its medical utility, according to Big Pharma catechism, which defines the CB1-mediated marijuana “high” as an adverse side effect that drug designers should avoid if they hope to win regulatory approval of their patented synthetic novelties.
So pharmaceutical researchers have created peripherally-restricted CB1 agonists (such as AZ11713908) that only activate CB1 receptors outside the central nervous system, but don’t cross the blood-brain barrier.
A peripherally restricted CB1 agonist won’t cause side effects such as disconcerting dysphoria or useless euphoria. But such a compound has never been approved for therapeutic use by the FDA.
5. Selective CB2 Agonists
Scientists have been hot on the trail of another type of synthetic cannabinoid – a “selective CB2 agonist” – that will bypass the brain while acting on the peripheral nervous system, where CB2 receptors are concentrated. CB2 receptors regulate immune function, pain perception, and inflammation.
Tinkering with synthetic compounds (such as HU308 and JWH 133) that selectively stimulate CB2receptors raises the prospect of healing without the high because CB2 receptors are localized primarily outside the brain and thus do not induce psychoactivity.
Cannabinoid researchers have their eyes on the ultimate prize, the pharmaceutical Holy Grail – a non-addictive painkiller bereft of adverse side effects. Animal experiments focusing on the CB2 receptor initially showed promise.
Thus far, however, drug companies have not been able to synthesize clinically effective CB2-selective compounds, though not for lack of trying. “If drug discovery is a sea, then CB2 is a rock that is surrounded by shipwrecked-projects,” remarked Italian scientist Giovanni Appendino.
6. Water-Soluble Cannabinoids
In their natural form, plant cannabinoids and endocannabinoids are oily, hydrophobic substances that don’t dissolve in water. But these lipid molecules can be structurally altered so that they become water soluble without diminishing their therapeutic attributes.
Scientists have developed several ways of synthesizing water-compatible derivatives of THCand other cannabinoids that are more bioavailable and thus potentially more potent than their oily, naturally-occurring counterparts.
The first water-soluble version of THC was created in 1972. Subsequent research found that water-friendly cannabinoid derivatives can lower intraocular pressure in rabbits. A water-soluble cannabinoid ester, “O-1057,” exhibited stronger analgesic properties than THC in preclinical experimentation.
Internet retailers are claiming to sell water-soluble CBD formulated as a nanoemulsion. Pure CBD delivered via nanotechnology is supposed to provide exceptionally high bioavailability and remedial effect compared to a hydrophobic CBD oil extract.
But a CBD isolate typically requires a much higher dose for therapeutic efficacy than a whole plant CBD-rich concentrate – and this factor may cancel out the alleged advantages of nanoemulsified single-molecule CBD.
7. Allosteric Cannabinoid Receptor Modulators
Because direct, full-on stimulation of cannabinoid receptors in the brain may trigger undesirable psychoactive effects, scientists have developed synthetic compounds that change the shape of the CB1 receptor and influence how it signals without causing a THC-like high. These compounds, known as allosteric modulators, can either amplify or decrease a receptor’s ability to transmit a signal.
A “positive allosteric modulator” increases the potency and/or efficacy of CB1 receptor activation by anandamide and 2AG (the two main endogenous cannabinoids), thereby boosting the protective effects of the endocannabinoid system.
Scientists at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland have synthesized a positive allosteric modulator of CB1to treat pain and neurological disorders. When researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University tested this experimental drug (“ZCZ011”) on mice, it reduced inflammatory pain by magnifying the CB1 receptor’s response to anandamide.
But allosteric effects are rarely consistent across species, which significantly impedes drug development in this area.
8. Inhibitors Of Endocannabinoid Metabolizing Enzymes
Medical scientists are experimenting with synthetic designer drugs to enhance endocannabinoid tone without binding directly (or allosterically) to cannabinoid receptors.
Pharmacological augmentation of endocannabinoid signaling can be achieved by inhibiting fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and/or monoglycerol lipase (MAGL), the catabolic enzymes that break down the brain’s own marijuana-like molecules, anandamide and 2AG, respectively.
Simply put, less FAAH and MAGL means more anandamide and 2AG, resulting in greater cannabinoid receptor activity throughout the body. Drugs that suppress endocannabinoid-metabolizing enzymes indirectly boost cannabinoid receptor signaling, causing a natural high without the vivid psychoactive effects associated with synthetic and plant-based CB1 agonists.
Preclinical research suggests that indirect modulation of endocannabinoid signaling could become a treatment option for various inflammatory conditions and stress-related disorders. FAAH and MAGLinhibition have been shown to ease pain, anxiety, colitis, hypertension, opiate withdrawal, diarrhea and arthritis in animal models.
While drug developers investigate synthetic FAAH-inhibitors (such as URB597) and MAGL-inhibitors (such as JZL 184), one need look no further than the kitchen spice rack for phytonutrients that regulate endocannabinoid tone by inhibiting the same catabolic enzymes. Nutmeg, one of many culinary spices that interact with the endocannabinoid system, inhibits the breakdown of both anandamide and 2AG, the brain’s own marijuana.
9. Endocannabinoid Reuptake Inhibitors
Another way to augment endocannabinoid tone entails delaying the reuptake of anandamide and 2AG. Scientists have synthesized reuptake inhibitors (such as AM404) that target transport molecules known as fatty acid binding proteins. These membrane-penetrating fatty acid binding proteins facilitate the intracellular transport and reuptake of endogenous cannabinoids.
By blocking access to these critical transport molecules, synthetic reuptake inhibitors increase endocannabinoid levels in the brain’s synapses. This results in heightened cannabinoid receptor signaling and endocannabinoid-induced protective effects.
THC and CBD also inhibit endocannabinoid reuptake. Enhancing endocannabinoid tone via reuptake inhibition may be a key mechanism whereby plant cannabinoids confer protective effects against seizures and neurodegeneration, as well as many other health benefits.
Fool’s Gold?
Despite repeated setbacks, the possibility of healing without the high persists as an idée fixe among cannabinoid scientists and pharmaceutical researchers.
The lack of success with selective CB2 agonists, peripherally restricted CB1 agonists, allosteric modulators, CB1 antagonists and other non-euphoric cannabinoids underscores the challenges and limitations of synthetic, monomolecular medicine that targets a single protein receptor while forsaking whole plant synergies.
Synthetic CBD analogs are also in development. By tweaking the mother molecule and removing, adding or editing a molecular side chain, pharmaceutical researchers hope to create a marketable compound that is more potent and more effective than botanical CBD.
But a CBD isolate is not inherently superior to a whole plant CBD-rich extract. Preclinical studies that compare the efficacy of single-molecule CBD and full spectrum CBD-rich oil concentrates indicate that CBDsolo is effective only at precise, high doses – whereas whole plant CBD-rich extracts have a much wider and safer therapeutic window and are effective at significantly lower doses. Problematic drug interactions are also much likelier with high dose single-molecule CBD.
Regulatory policy should not privilege single-molecule meds over full spectrum cannabis remedies. Patients are best served by having access to a wide range of cannabinoid-based therapeutic options, including artisanal whole plant preparations and synthetic isolates, if and when they become available.
Martin A. Lee is the director of Project CBD and the author of Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana – Medical, Recreational and Scientific.
This story first appeared on Project CBD.
