Chapter category: Neuropharmacology
Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry of THC
Cannabinoids
Edited by: Vincenzo Di MarzoISBN: 0-306-48228-2
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Chapter authors:
Emil Pop
While the psychological and physiological effects of cannabis and its main active ingredient, ?9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) have been studied for many years, reliable data have been generated only starting with the late 1960s when pure THC became available. The pharmacology of cannabis and THC, including pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, pharmacotherapeutics and toxicology have been thoroughly investigated since. Due to the fact that remarkable curative properties of cannabis and THC for symptoms such as pain relief, control of nausea and appetite stimulation are mediated by the same receptors as the unwanted psychoactive side-effects their application in medical purposes is limited. Some of the major goals of medicinal chemists have been to determine structural features required for cannabinoid activity, to optimize medicinal effectiveness and to separate the beneficial effects of cannabinoids from unwanted psychoactive side-effects. A large number of analogs of THC and structurally unrelated ligands to cannabinoid receptors have been synthesized and investigated. The discovery of the endocannabinoids contributed to a better understanding of the mechanisms of cannabinoid action and opened new perspectives toward the application in medicine of this intriguing group of compounds (see Chapter 5).
Additional chapters from this book:
Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry of THC
Emil Pop
While the psychological and physiological effects of cannabis and its main active ingredient, ?9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) have been studied for many years, reliable data have been generated only s...
The Chemical Constituents of Cannabis Sativa and the Endocannabinoid System
Vincenzo Di Marzo and Emil Pop
The chemical composition of Cannabis has been elucidated following long-lasting research efforts. Among the nearly 500 compounds belonging to a large variety of groups, cannabinoids (66 compounds) a...
Cannabinoids and Medicine II: The Role of Cannabinoids in Multiple Sclerosis and Neuronal Damage
Gareth Pryce and David Baker
It is becoming increasingly clear that many neurological diseases share common mechanisms of neurotoxicity and one of primary importance appears to be perturbation of glutamate signaling resulting i...
Endocannabinoids and Related Fatty Acid Derivatives in Pain Modulation: Behavioral, Neurophysiological and Neuroanatomical Perspectives on Cannabinoid Antinociception
Andrea G. Hohmann and J.Michael Walker
Cannabinoids are antinociceptive in animal models of acute and persistent nociception. This review examines the biology of endocannabinoids and behavioral, neurophysi ological and neuroanatomical ev...
Chemistry and Structure Activity Relationships for Tetrahydrocannibinols and Endocannabinoids
R.K. Razdan
An overview is presented of the chemistry and the known structure activity relationships (SAR) for tetrahydrocannabinols (THCs), endocannabinoids and pyrazole based an tagonists. An attempt has b...
The Pharmacology and Therapeutic Potential of Cannabidiol
R.G. Pertwee
This review surveys the evidence that the non-psychotropic plant cannabinoid, cannabidiol (CBD), has therapeutic potential as a neuroprotective agent and for the management of epilepsy, glaucoma...
Endocannabinoids
Luciano De Petrocellis, Tiziana Bisogno and Vincenzo Di Marzo
The discovery of endogenous ligands of cannabinoid receptors, the endocannabinoids, opened a new age in research on cannabinoids and their receptors. The endocannabinoids discovered so far are a...
Cannabinoids and Medicine: Eating Disorders, Nausea and Emesis
Tim C. Kirkham
This chapter explores current knowledge relating to the actions of cannabinoids that are relevant to clinical conditions in which appetite, body weight, nausea or emesis are core features. Following a...
Cannabinoid Receptors and Signal Transduction
Allyn C. Howlett and Joong-Youn Shim
The cannabinoid receptors are members of the rhodopsin-like family of 7-transmem- brane spanning receptors that are believed to bind their agonist ligands within the central core formed by the in...
Endocannabinoids and Alcohol Drinking
George Kunos, Lei Wang, Jie Liu, Douglas Osei-Hyiaman and Judith Harvey-White
Alcohol is the most widely abused substance in Western societies, and the economic and societal costs of alcoholism surpass the cost of all other drugs of abuse combined. Alcoholism has all the clas...
