Will Kynurenic acid help to give up marijuana?
A remedy for marijuana addiction has been found
In addition, some other cannabinoids are actively involved in the treatment of epilepsy and can even prevent obesity and diabetes.
However, even with medical use, marijuana can be addictive: a person begins to "use" more than necessary, and even when it is not necessary. The results obtained at the National Institute of Drug Addiction and the University of Maryland Medical School (both in the USA) should help to cope with this "side effect". As you know, marijuana, like nicotine and opiates, causes euphoric pleasure, acting on the dopamine system. The neurotransmitter dopamine is used by the neurons of the pleasure center, and the higher its level, the stronger the pleasant sensations; the drug just causes an increase in the level of the neurotransmitter.
On the other hand, some time ago Robert Schwarcz from the University of Maryland and his colleagues found out that dopamine activity of the brain strongly depends on kynurenic acid. It remained to see how kynurenic acid would affect the effect of marijuana. The researchers describe the results of these experiments on the pages of Nature Neuroscience (Justinova et al., Reducing cannabinoid abuse and preventing relapse by enhancing endogenous brain levels of kynurenic acid).
Scientists used a substance that increases the level of kynurenic acid in the brain, and when this substance was given to mice after a dose of tetrahydrocannabinol, the specific dopamine activity in the pleasure centers of the animals was not so high. That is, kynurenic acid suppressed the interaction of pleasure neurons with dopamine, apparently binding to the same receptors that are designed in cells for this neurotransmitter.
Even more impressive were the results of behavioral experiments when monkeys were hooked on tetrahydrocannabinol. The animals in the cage had a lever that they could press and receive a portion of the drug – and the primates reached a real frenzy, pressing the magic button almost every second. However, after a portion of a substance that raises the level of kynurenic acid, the consumption of tetrahydrocannabinol fell by 80%.
In another experiment, monkeys were given a reduced dose of the drug, which they received with each push of the lever. As a result, the animals stopped pushing the lever at all, but at that moment they were suddenly injected with a portion of tetrahydrocannabinol. And the monkeys immediately started pressing the button again. But if their levels of kynurenic acid were increased before that, there was no relapse, and after an accidental dose of the drug, the addiction did not resurrect.
An open remedy is potentially quite capable of freeing from addiction, not only from marijuana, but also from nicotine, and in general from any that arises from a rush of dopamine in the brain. At the same time, it should be understood that such a medicine should not affect the medical properties of marijuana, although this requires additional verification. And the same test will be needed to assess the likelihood of side effects from kinuren medication: the brain, especially the human one, is a complex system, dopamine is used not only in the pleasure center, and who knows how an increase in the level of kinuren acid will affect the rest of the functions of the nervous system...
In the near future, it will be possible to get rid of the craving for marijuana in a much more harmless wayPrepared by the Smithsonian Institution: Is This Chemical a Cure For Marijuana Addiction?