Appetite, Anxiety and Cannabinoids: A New Research from Canada
Dr. Hsiao-Huei Chen is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa and a senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. “Anxiety and obesity are growing problems in society,” she recently claimed. “Not only have we found a new biological pathway that regulates these two conditions, but we also found that they may be amenable to treatment with the same drug,” she also said. What was she talking about? The doctor was discussing the results of the research she recently conducted with ZhaohongQin, Xun Zhou, Nihar R. Pandey, Haley A. Vecchiarelli, Chloe A. Stewart, Xia Zhang, Diane C. Lagace, Jean Michel Brunel, Jean-Claude Béïque, Alexandre F.R. Stewart and Matthew N. Hill. The title of the article where the results were reported, published in Neuron, is Chronic Stress Induces Anxiety via an Amygdalar Intracellular Cascade that Impairs Endocannabinoid Signaling.
The research was funded by the Ottawa Hospital Foundation, the HSF Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC), and the Canada Research Chair Program.
Chen and her colleagues were studying the effect of the gene LMO4 on brain regeneration and development. One day, however, they noticed that the mice that lacked this gene displayed anxious behavior and also became obese. The team demonstrated that the enzyme PTP1B plays a key role in a pathway that connects LMO4, obesity, anxiety, and the body’s endocannabinoidsystem—aka our natural marijuana system. Inhibiting the activity of PTP1B, the researchers found that both anxiety and obesity get reduced.
In other words, our own marijuana-like compound can protect us from both anxiety and obesity.
Dr. Chen believes it is actually possible to use a drug that inhibits the activity of PTP1B, called trodusquemine, to produce the same effects. “It is our hope that we can quickly start clinical trials to determine if this novel drug may be able to treat obesity and anxiety at the same time,”said the doctor, who added“Current treatments for anxiety disorders have addiction issues and other side effects. Our approach lets the brain fix itself by simply re-instating the appropriate level of PTP1B.”
Let your own brain fix itself. Go online and buy some weed and enjoy all its benefits.
