Tag: endocannabinoid system
Unravelling the links between substance use and binge-like eating disorders
Binge eating disorder (BED) and substance use disorders (SUD) are characterised by maladaptive responses in the reward system of the brain. Dr Mary C Olmstead at Queen’s University, Canada, and Dr Katia Befort, University of Strasbourg, France, are using rodent models to explore how a part of the reward system, called the endocannabinoid system (ECS), affects the two conditions. They hope […]
Read More… from Unravelling the links between substance use and binge-like eating disorders
Cannabis: Offering hope of a breakthrough in chronic pain treatment
For thousands of years, cannabis has been used to treat pain. Now, with medicinal cannabis legal in some places, the drug might prove to be a viable alternative to opioid pain killers. Dr Alex Bekker and colleagues at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, USA, is investigating how cannabis could be used to ease the pain associated with opioid addiction […]
Read More… from Cannabis: Offering hope of a breakthrough in chronic pain treatment
Understanding the olfactory system
The recent discovery of endogenous cannabinoids has kickstarted a whole area of research into their function. Cannabinoids have been widely studied in the hippocampus and amygdala of the brain but their role in other regions, including the olfactory system, are largely a mystery. Professor Thomas Heinbockel and his team from Howard University College of Medicine research cannabinoids in the olfactory […]