Diabetes & Marijuana

[Wilbur]

Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is a group of autoimmune diseases characterized by defects in insulin secretion resulting in hyperglycemia (an abnormally high concentration of glucose in the blood). There are two primary types of diabetes. Individuals diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (also known as juvenile diabetes) are incapable of producing pancreatic insulin and must rely on insulin medication for survival. Individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (also known as adult onset diabetes) produce inadequate amounts of insulin, though this a less serious condition that may often be controlled by diet. Over time, diabetes can lead to blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage, hardening of the arteries, and death. The disease is the third leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease and cancer.

A search of the scientific literature reveals no clinical investigations of cannabis for the treatment of diabetes, but does identify a small number of preclinical studies indicating that cannabinoids may modify the disease’s progression and provide symptomatic relief to those suffering from it.[1-2] Most recently, a study published in the journal Autoimmunity reported that injections of 5 mg per day of the non-psychoactive cannabinoid CBD significantly reduced the incidence of diabetes in mice. Investigators reported that 86% of untreated control mice in the study developed diabetes. By contrast, only 30% of CBD-treated mice developed the disease.[3] In a separate experiment, investigators reported that control mice all developed diabetes at a median of 17 weeks (range 15-20 weeks) while a majority (60 percent) of CBD-treated mice remained diabetes-free at 26 weeks.[4]

Investigators also found that CBD significantly lowered plasma levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines (proteins) INF-gamma and TNF-alpha and significantly reduced the severity of insulitis (an infiltration of white blood cells resulting in swelling) compared to non-treated controls. “Our results indicate that CBD can inhibit and delay destructive insulitis and inflammatory … cytokine production in … mice resulting in decreased incidence of diabetes,” authors concluded.

Other preclinical trials have demonstrated cannabinoids to possess additional beneficial effects in animal models of diabetes. Writing in the March 2006 issue of the American Journal of Pathology, researchers at the Medical College of Virginia reported that rats treated with CBD for periods of one to four weeks experienced significant protection from diabetic retinopathy.[5] This condition, which is characterized by retinal oxygen deprivation and a breakdown of the blood-retinal barrier, is the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults.

Cannabinoids have also been shown to alleviate neuropathic pain associated with the disease. A pair of studies published in the journal Neuroscience Letters in 2004 reported that mice administered a cannabis receptor agonist experienced a reduction in diabetic related tactile allodynia (pain resulting from non-injurious stimulus to the skin) compared to non-treated controls.[6-7] The findings suggest that “cannabinoids have a potential beneficial effect on experimental diabetic neuropathic pain.”

Finally, a 2001 trial demonstrated that delta-9-THC could moderate an animal model of the disease by reducing artificially-elevated glucose levels and insulitis in mice compared to non-treated controls.[8] With incidents of diabetes steadily increasing in both the adult and juvenile population, it would appear that further cannabinoid research is warranted in the treatment of these diseases.

REFERENCES

[1] Croxford and Yamamura. 2005. Cannabinoids and the immune system: Potential for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Journal of Neuroimmunology 166: 3-18.

[2] Lu et al. 2006. The cannabinergic system as a target for anti-inflammatory therapies. Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry 13: 1401-1426.

[3] Weiss et al. 2006. Cannabidiol lowers incidence of diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice. Autoimmunity 39: 143-151.

[4] Ibid

[5] El-Remessy et al. 2006. Neuroprotective and blood-retinal barrier preserving effects of cannabidiol in experimental diabetes. American Journal of Pathology 168: 235-244.

[6] Dogrul et al. 2004. Cannabinoids block tactile allodynia in diabetic mice without attenuation of its antinociceptive effect. Neuroscience Letters 368: 82-86.

[7] Ulugol et al. 2004. The effect of WIN 55,212-2, a cannabinoid agonist, on tactile allodynia in diabetic rats. Neuroscience Letters 71: 167-170.

[8] Li et al. 2001. Examination of the immunosuppressive effect of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in streptozotocin-induced autoimmune diabetes. International Immunopharmacology (Italy) 4: 699-712.

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[Wilbur]

Marijuana Compound May Help Stop Diabetic Retinopathy
posted 03/17/2006

A compound found in marijuana won’t make you high but it may help keep your eyes healthy if you’re a diabetic, researchers say.

Early studies indicate cannabidiol works as a consummate multi-tasker to protect the eye from growing a plethora of leaky blood vessels, the hallmark of diabetic retinopathy, says Dr. Gregory I. Liou, molecular biologist at the Medical College of Georgia.

“We are studying the role of cannabinoid receptors in our body and trying to modulate them so we can defend against diabetic retinopathy,” Dr. Liou says. Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults and affects nearly 16 million Americans.

High glucose levels resulting from unmanaged diabetes set in motion a cascade ultimately causing the oxygen-deprived retina to grow more blood vessels. Ironically, the leaky surplus of vessels can ultimately destroy vision.

Dr. Liou, who recently received a $300,000 grant from the American Diabetes Association, wants to intervene earlier in the process, as healthy relationships inside the retina first start to go bad.

Cannabinoid receptors are found throughout the body and endogenous cannabinoids are produced to act on them. “Their function is very different from organ to organ but in the central nervous system, cannabinoid receptors are responsible for the neutralization process that should occur after a nerve impulse is finished,” says Dr. Liou.

Nerves come together at a point of communication called a synapse. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that excites these nerves to action at their point of communication. “There are also inhibitory neurotransmitters such as GABA,” Dr. Liou says. Endogenous cannabinoids help balance the excitation and inhibition, at least until oxygen gets scarce.

In the face of inadequate oxygen, or ischemia – another hallmark of diabetes – nerve endings start producing even more glutamate, setting in motion an unhealthy chain of events. Pumps that keep the right substances inside or outside of cells start to malfunction. Excess nitric oxide and superoxides are produced, which are toxic to the cells. Another irony is the heightened activity increases the retina’s need for oxygen. “We are talking about nerve cell death,” Dr. Liou says. “In the retina, if a lot of our nerve cells die, our vision is directly affected.”

And that’s not all that goes wrong in the nerve-packed retina. Nearby microglial cells, which can function as cell-eating scavengers in the body, sense something is going wrong with the nerve cells, become activated and start an inflammatory process that can be fatal to nerve cells.

Interestingly, the body starts producing more endogenous cannabinoids to stop glutamate release, then produces an enzyme to destroy the cannabinoids to keep them from continuing to accumulate. The same thing happens in the brain after a stroke.
That’s why cannabidiol, an antioxidant, may help save the retina. Test-tube studies by others, as well as Dr. Liou’s pilot studies in diabetic animal models show cannabidiol works to interrupt essentially all these destructive points of action.

“What we believe cannabidiol does is go in here as an antioxidant to neutralize the toxic superoxides. Number two, it inhibits the self-destructive system and allows the self-produced endogenous cannabinoids to stay there longer by inhibiting the enzyme that destroys them.” Cannabidiol also helps keep microglial cells from turning on nerve cells by inhibiting cannabinoid receptors on microglial cells that are at least partially responsible for their ability to destroy the cells.

“Cannabinoids are trying to ease the situation on both sides. They help save the neuron and, at the same time, make sure the microglial cells don’t become activated. How good do you want a drug to be?” Dr. Liou says.

“We are very pleased,” he says of studies in which cannabidiol is injected into diabetic rats and mice. He hopes the compound in marijuana may one day be given along with insulin to stop the early changes that set the stage for damaged or destroyed vision.
American Journal of Pathology, Jan. 2006 Co-authors on the study include Dr. Azza B. El-Remessy, MCG Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology; Drs. Mohamed Al-Shabrawey, Nai-Tse Tsai and Ruth B. Caldwell, MCG Vascular Biology Center; and Dr. Yousuf Khalifa, MCG Department of Ophthalmology.

Source: Diabetes In Control

http://www.defeatdiabetes.org/Articl...uana060317.htm

[Wilbur]

Marijuana Component Slows Diabetes in Study
Monday, May 29 2006 @ 10:43 PM EDT

Marijuana Chemical Reduces the Development of Diabetes in Animal Study

IACM via BBSNews 2006-05-29 -- Researchers of the Hadassah University Hospital of Jerusalem investigated the effects of the plant cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) on the development of diabetes in mice, which develop diabetes due to genetic causes. So-called NOD mice develop insulitis within 4 to 5 weeks of age followed by diabetes within a median of 14 weeks. Insulitis is an inflammation of the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, and diabetes is a result of a destruction of these cells.

NOD mice aged 6 to 12 weeks that were treated with 10 to 20 injections of CBD (5 mg per kilogram body weight) presented with a significantly reduced incidence of diabetes of 30 per cent compared to 86 per cent in untreated control mice. In addition, in the mice that developed diabetes in the treated group disease onset was a significantly delayed. Blood levels of two cytokines that promote inflammation, IFN-gamma and TFN-alpha, are usually increased in NOD mice. A treatment with CBD caused a significant reduction (more than 70 per cent) in levels of both cytokines. In another experiment CBD-treated mice were observed for 26 weeks. While the 5 control mice all developed diabetes, 3 of 5 of the CBD-treated mice remained diabetes- free at 26 weeks.

Researchers concluded that confirmation of the observed immunomodulatory effects of CBD "may lead to the clinical application of this agent in the prevention of type 1 diabetes" and possibly other autoimmune diseases. They note that many patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have sufficient residual cells that produce insulin at the time of diagnosis, and may be candidates for immunomodulation therapy.

Source: Weiss L, Zeira M, Reich S, Har-Noy M, Mechoulam R, Slavin S, Gallily R. Cannabidiol lowers incidence of diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice. Autoimmunity 2006;39(2):143-51.

[bahnzo]

Good stuff. Considering that diabetes is on the verge of an epidempic, maybe a blind eye can no longer be turned to the healing power of cannabis.

[Spliff Twister]

User thanks for the great info im gonna make my grandma give this a read and see if I can't convince her to try mary jane

[Wilbur]

^ thanks, ain't google a wonderful thing! Good luck with grandma :)