What is it about?
We grew a Cannabis plant with low THC, so no ability to provide a ‘high’ but that contains many chemicals predicted to have positive impacts on brain health. In particular, we are interested in improving brain health for people with autism spectrum disorders. We collected the active compounds from the plant and tested whether they could change the health and behaviour of brain cells in culture. Our low THC plant extract did positively impact the behaviours of brain immune cells and neurons. This study shows that our extract has the potential to positively impact brain health and that future studies in whole animals and then people are justified.
Featured Image
Photo by Esteban López on Unsplash
Why is it important?
There are no effective treatments for the negative symptoms of disorders like autism spectrum disorder. We believe that a plant extract, with multiple chemicals can have a positive effect on brain health by acting on multiple cells in different ways to create positive impacts.
Perspectives
Natural product medicine is an exciting area to work in. We believe that low THC Cannabis salvia extracts have the potential to modulate the function of the brain. This, they will provide opportunities for people to choose to modify aspects of their brain function to maximise health and wellbeing.
Lab head - Perinatal Brain Injury Lab Bobbi Fleiss
RMIT University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Evaluation of the efficacy of a full-spectrum medicinal cannabis plant extract with less than 0.3% Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol inin vitromodels of inflammation and excitotoxicity, January 2024, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press,
DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.10.575133.
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