The researchers from the Medical University of Bialystok (Aleksandra Opechowska, Kacper Karpiuk, Andrii Zahorodnii, Ewa Harasim-Symbor, Adrian Chabowski, Karolina Konstantynowicz-Nowicka) published the article „Anti-inflammatory effects of cannabidiol in early stages of neuroinflammation induced by high-fat diet in cerebral cortex of rats” in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology.
The effect of cannabidiol (CBD) on the high-fat diet-dependent early stages of neuroinflammation in the cerebral cortex of Wistar rats was analyzed. A high-fat diet (HFD) creates favorable conditions for the development of inflammation in the central nervous system, which leads to the alteration of brain tissue homeostasis. Finding substances capable of inhibiting the development of inflammation at an early stage is important, because fully developed inflammation is difficult to control without additional tissue damage.
In today’s medicine, a growing amount of attention is drawn to compounds of natural origin. An example of such a substance is the phytocannabinoid — cannabidiol (CBD), obtained from the cannabis plant, which has been cultivated for centuries. CBD administered intraperitoneally once a day to the HFD group contributed to reducing the level of arachidonic acid, a precursor of pro-inflammatory mediators, in all analyzed lipid classes. This cannabidiol also reduced the activity of the omega-6 fatty acid pathway, involved in the synthesis of eicosanoids, and the activity of the omega-3 pathway.
The results clearly suggest that CBD may have great potential for alleviating the inflammatory response by interfering with the process of eicosanoid synthesis. Moreover, this substance easily crosses the blood-brain barrier, which is an obstacle to many other drugs, and does not cause serious side effects.
The research was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland (grant no. 2017/26/D/NZ3/01119) and by the Medical University of Bialystok (grant no. SUB/1/DN/22/006/1118).
Link to the article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.taap.2024.116856
