In the next few weeks, Nicholas DiPatrizios lab at UC Riverside will receive a shipment of marijuana.
DiPatrizio, a professor of biomedical sciences, then will begin giving mice precise doses of cannabis oil to see how marijuana impacts their weight and a host of serious health conditions often linked to obesity.
The study marks the first time UC Riverside has received federal approval to conduct research on marijuana — or any other substance in the Drug Enforcement Administrations strict Schedule I category. It also marks the schools first cannabis-related grant, with $744,000 from tobacco taxes being used to finance this three-year research project on how marijuana affects metabolic health.
Nicholas DiPatrizio, a biomedical sciences professor at the UCR School of Medicine, center, goes over a brain atlas with students at his lab on campus in Riverside on Tuesday, June 18, 2019. DiPatrizio and students have received the universitys first grant and federal approval to study cannabis. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Nicholas DiPatrizio, a biomedical sciences professor at the UCR School of Medicine, holds a vile containing the bodys natural cannabis-liked molecules called endocannabinoids at his lab on campus in Riverside on Tuesday, June 18, 2019. DiPatrizio and students have received the universitys first grant and federal approval to study cannabis. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Nicholas DiPatrizio, a biomedical sciences professor at the UCR School of Medicine, holds a vile containing the bodys natural cannabis-liked molecules called endocannabinoids at his lab on campus in Riverside on Tuesday, June 18, 2019. DiPatrizio and students have received the universitys first grant and federal approval to study cannabis. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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UC Riverside is now one of seven schools in the University of California system that have successfully navigated the challenging regulatory process required to study the impact of cannabis on human health.
Scientists at UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Davis, UC San Diego, UCSF and UC Santa Cruz also have received federal approval for marijuana research projects, according to Sara McBride, spokeswoman for the University of California Office of the President.
Those scientists are looking at everything from how cannabis affects drivers to the drugs possible use in controlling infant seizures. And theyre doing so despite roadblocks that can make marijuana research a complex, lengthy and pricey endeavor.
DiPatrizio says the effort will be more than worth it if he can help the world better understand and harness marijuanas potential to lower obesity and boost metabolic health.
“This field is sort of still in its infancy,” he said. “But thats exciting. We have a lot to learn.”
Marijuana and hunger[hhmc]
The concept behind DiPatrizios upcoming study on how cannabis might reduce obesity-linked conditions might seem paradoxical to people who assume marijuana always leads to the munchies.
There is truth to that stereotype. Twenty years ago, when DiPatrizio was an undergraduate student at Temple University, research showed that rats tended to binge on food the first day they were exposed to significant doses of THC, the main compound in marijuana that makes people feel high. And Nielsen Research group released a study this week showing that sales of sweet and salty snacks grew at faster rates in states that have legalized recreational marijuana.
But the process that links THC with appetite doesnt work in only one direction.
Based on the “munchies” phenomena, a drug company developed an anti-obesity pill called rimonabant that, though it did not receive approval in the United States, entered the European market in 2006 under the trade name Acomplia.
To understand how the drug worked, and how DiPatrizios study might work, you have to first understand a bit about the endocannabinoid system.
Humans produce a range of chemical compounds called endocannabinoids, which are similar to compounds found in marijuana. These naturally occurring compounds help keep our bodies stable by binding to cannabinoid receptors on cell membranes throughout the body. They also control the release of chemical messengers that regulate everything from how we experience pain to our moods and appetites.
What the makers of rimonabant found was that if they could block naturally occurring endocannabinoids from binding to cell receptors in the gut, they could effectively control hunger impulses, boost metabolism and help patients lose weight.
However, humans also have cannabinoid receptors in their brains. And when those receptors were blocked by rimonabant, patients experienced depression and suicidal thoughts. So in 2008, the drug was yanked from the European market.
Since then, researchers have been working on alternatives, hoping to come up with a drug that blocks hunger-related endocannabinoid signals in the gut without crossing the blood-brain barrier.
But what DiPatrizio and others have found is that the opposite approach also might be effective.
His theory is connected to the Temple University study he worked on in the late 1990s.
While the rats in that study binged on food on the first day they were exposed to marijuana, they stopped overeating by day three. And DiPatrizio said that pattern held for the rest of the week.
Observational studies have simiRead More – Source
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