Endocannabinoids: The Brain and Body's Marijuana and Beyond
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Summary
Over the past decade, there have been major advances in understanding the mechanisms whereby marijuana interacts with the brain in producing psychoactive and potentially therapeutic effects. The discovery of specific gene coding for cannabinoid receptors activated by smoking marijuana, and the finding of endogenous cannabinoids, which also activate the receptors, have transformed cannabinoid research into mainstream science with significant implications in human health and disease
Endocannabinoids: The Brain and Body’s Marijuana and Beyond documentsadvances in the discovery and functioning of naturally occurring marijuana-like substances in human biology. It explores recent findings that point to the existence of an endocannabinoid physiological control system (EPCS) that directly impacts human development, health, and disease. While cannabinoid effects on the brain have received the greatest attention throughout the literature, this work looks at research on the endogenous cannabinoid system’s association across all of human physiology, including the immune, endocrine, and reproductive systems.
With thoroughly researched and exceptionally insightful contributions from more than three-dozen top-flight researchers representing a cross-section of disciplines from molecular biology, genetics, and neurology to gynecology, physiology, and pharmacology, this work explores a range of topics as wide as the human body is complex. These topics include the EPCS’s relation to cell development and regulation, CNS function, immune function modulation, reproduction, and digestion, as well as its function in mental illness, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer.
The final section in the book considers the significance of endogenous cannabinoids found in some of the simplest multicellular organisms in the animal kingdom, as well as in mammalian cells at the earliest stages of development, all of which suggests that they play a fundamental role in human biology.
Enocannabinoids: The Brain and Body’s Marijuana and Beyond explores areas that few books have ventured into, providing cutting-edge information that will ultimately help us better understand human biology at the systemic and perhaps even cellular level, as well as lead to the development of a whole new range of medications.
Table of Contents
Historical Aspects and Chemistry
Look Back in Ananda—Years of Research on Cannabinoids: R Mechoulam
The Relationship between Endocannabinoid Conformation and Endocannabinoid Interaction at the Cannabinoid Receptors: Patricia H Reggio
Cannabinoid Receptor Genetics and Signal Transduction
Endocannabinoid Receptor Genetics and Marijuana Use: Emmanuel S Onaivi, Hiroki Ishiguro, Ping Wu Zhang, Zhicheng Lin, Babatunde E Akinshola, Claire M Leonard, Sanika S Chirwa, Jianping Gong and George R Uhl
Endocannabinoids and Intracellular Signaling: Sean D McAllister and Mary E Abood
Endocannabinoids as Retrograde Messengers in Synaptic Transmission: Saori Oka, Yoshio Ishima, Keizo Waku, and Takayuki Sugiura
Non-CB1, Non-CB2 Receptors for Endocannabinoids: Vincenzo Di Marzo and Luciano De Petrocellis
Biochemistry of the Endocannabinoid System
Occurrence, Biosynthesis, and Metabolism of Endocannabinoids: Takayuki Sugiura, Saori Oka, Shinobu Ikeda, and Keizo Waku
Endocannabinoids and Eicosanoids: All in the Family: Sumner Burstein
Endocannabinoids in CNS Physiology
Synthetic Marijuana: Endocannabinoid Modulation of SynapticTransmission and Implications for the Regulation of Synaptic Plasticity: Alexander F Hoffman and Carl R Lupica
Cannabinoids and the Central Serotonergic System: Marisela Morales
Endocannabinoids and Dopamine-Related Functions in the CNS: Javier Fernández-Ruiz, Rosario de Miguel, Mariluz Hernández, Maribel Cebeira, and José A Ramos
Pharmacology of the Oxidative Metabolites of Endocannabinoids: Ruth A Ross
Behavioral Effects of Endocannabinoids :Marie-Hélène Thiébot, Frédérique Chaperon, Ester Fride, and Emmanuel S Onaivi
Endocannabinoids in CNS Pathology
Neuroprotection: Glutamate and Endocannabinoids : Harald S Hansen, Gitte Petersen, and Henrik H Hansen
Neuropsychiatry: Schizophrenia, Depression, and Anxiety: Ester Fride and Ethan Russo
The Role of Endocannabinoids in the Development, Progression, and Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases: Michelle Glass
Endocannabinoids in Peripheral Organ Systems
Endocannabinoids and Gastrointestinal Function: Nissar A Darmani
Endocannabinoids and the Cardiovascular System: Michael D Randall
Endocannabinoids in Inflammation and Immune Response: Evgeny V Berdyshev
Involvement of the Endocannabinoid System in Cancer: Mauro Maccarrone
Endocannabinoids and Endocrine Function: Laura L Murphy
Endocannabinoids in Fertilization, Pregnancy, and Development: Herbert Schuel and Lani J Burkman
Endocannabinoid Phylogenetics
Distribution of Endocannabinoids and Their Receptors and Enzymes on the Tree of Life
Endocannabinoid-Based Molecules as Potential Therapeutic Drugs: Alessia Ligresti and Vincenzo Di Marzo
Index
Editorial Reviews
“…many of the various contributors to this volume suggest that cannabinoid compounds might be useful in a variety of basal ganglia disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease. There is even more effects in patients with Tourette’s syndrome. … All of the 36 contributors to the 23 chapters are biochemists and pharmacologists … skim the biochemistry formulae and diagrams and get to the material that will be most interesting to you … ”
— Richard Evenson, in PsicCrtiques, Vol. 52, No. 12, March 2007
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