NOT SO DOPEY 18 April 2005 - The Economist |
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The active ingredient of cannabis may protect against heart disease and strokes. In fact, marijuana's ability to relieve the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and AIDS, among other diseases, is pretty well agreed by patients, if not by the medical establishment. But a paper in this week's NATURE, by Sabine Steffens of Geneva University Hospital and her colleagues, suggests the drug (or, at least, its active ingredient) may also have a role in combating heart disease and strokes. Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) is an important cause of both of these diseases. Atherosclerosis itself is caused in part by chronic inflammation--an inappropriate accumulation in the arterial walls of cells from the immune system. The active ingredient of marijuana is a molecule called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The activity for which it is prized by most of its users is its ability to stick to receptor molecules on the surface of certain brain cells, and thus change the activity of those cells. But it also sticks to the surface of some immune cells, altering their behaviour, too. Dr Steffens and her colleagues thought that this property might be exploited to reduce inflammation, by discouraging immune cells from accumulating in atherosclerotic plaques. |
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