The endocannabinoid system

We have heard and learned about many other systems from school and how did we not hear about this one? It was interesting for me to ponder on this system once when I started looking for CBD, it's working on the human body and related theories. Turns out the endocannabinoid system is there in all our systems. Not just ours, many other mammals too. Interesting enough, this system evolved 600 million years ago, as per scientists. How and why did we not aware of this system then?

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Dating back to 1900s, the studies that resulted in the finding of endocannabinoid system started in order to find out the mechanism of marijuana in the body. The endocannabinoid system is found to be responsible for giving those high feeling we get using marijuana. But this made scientists study more about this complex biological system and the results were interesting enough that the endocannabinoid system is the new target for many diseases. I would like to say, the endocannabinoid system is the new black in the medicine town.

What Is The Endocannabinoid System?

Endocannabinoid system is a biological system that is spread across the body. It includes many components such as endocannabinoids, cannabinoids, ligands and so on. They function in ways to regulate and modulate many functions in our body. Some of these activities are and not limited to sleep, appetite, fertility and so on. It is being later found out that there is a major role played by the endocannabinoid system in almost every other disease we possess.

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There are two major cannabinoid receptors identified so far, named as CB 1 and CB 2. The first one of such receptors is identified and discovered in 1988 by Allyn Howlett and William Devane. It is found out that these receptors are present in larger numbers in the brain than any other.

These receptors have their distribution varied in different parts of the human body with CB1 seen mostly in the brain and CB 2 present in the immune system. Therefore these two receptors are targeted to be activated to bring out desirable mechanisms to treat different kinds of diseases.

Endocannabinoids are the body’s naturally produced cannabinoids. These ligands or lipid metabolites activate the cannabinoid receptors. Arachidonoylethanolamide (anandamide) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) are two of the important endocannabinoids that are found. This article will be helpful in giving more insight into how the system works using endocannabinoids.

So, the question is What is the significance of such a system? How we can make use of all this knowledge in making our lives better?

Exploiting Endocannabinoid system

Remember the studies started in search of the mechanism of marijuana in our body? From the researches in that area, it was found that Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the compound that promotes all the “illegal” feelings in our body.

They also found another compound, Cannabidiol (CBD), the good guy. CBD is one of the many (113 as they have found so far) cannabinoid compounds present in the cannabis plant. This wonder compound works just opposite as THC and brings results that can help us treat epilepsy, pain and so many other diseases. The best part? It’s all done naturally.

CBD works activate the cannabinoid receptors CB 1 and CB 2 in such a that will increase the number of endocannabinoids, which will then triggers the activation of CB1 and CB 2. The endocannabinoids are otherwise degraded by other enzymes. So, CBD will inhibit this degradation which will, in turn, increase the availability of these ligands.

That being said, activation of CB1 and CB2 is targeted to bring about different changes. CB 1 is present mostly in the brain and can contribute to the betterment from different mental disorders such as depression, anxiety and so on. Whereas, CB 2 located in the immune system plays in ways to reduce inflammation. This property is being used to reduce chronic pain, arthritis and more.

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CBD and the endocannabinoid system

There are a number of diseases where CBD can be a savior. But, the most important one is Epilepsy which put maximum pressure on the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The effects of CBD in calming the seizures was a great gift to those who were going through the difficulties of this disease. Such a condition is sometimes considered as an evil intervention in the life of the sufferer which makes things complicated other than looking for medication.

CBD is also used in many other conditions. Pain relief is one of such problems where CBD can help you in a natural way. The anti-inflammatory properties of this compound can help with joint pain and also decreasing the perception of pain in the brain. The common problem with mental states of depression, anxiety is the reduced neurogenesis in different parts of the brain mainly in the hippocampus. CBD can help with the regeneration of these neurons and bring positive results in treating these disorders.

To wrap up and not bore you with many more facts, let me put all the links to the references below. You can read through them for a thorough understanding, even though this is a field that is under development. I found it interesting to know about such a system that is being ignored for years.

Did you know our ancestors used cannabis plants for medical purposes? There gotta be something wrong with our rules and understanding of nature that we ignored the good parts about a plant with this much potential.

References

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2848184

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5288380/

3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24440992

4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25855725

5. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143739\

6. https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn4036

7. https://www.nature.com/articles/nm.f.1869