THC Prevents MDMA Neurotoxicity in Mice
PLoS ONE February 10, 2010 Clara Touriño, Andreas Zimmer, Olga Valverde 55 citations
The main psychoactive compound in cannabis, THC, can protect against brain damage caused by MDMA (ecstasy) in mice, primarily by preventing the dangerous rise in body temperature that MDMA induces. MDMA caused hyperthermia, glial activation, and loss of dopamine terminals in the striatum, especially at a warm ambient temperature of 26 degrees Celsius. THC prevented MDMA-induced hyperthermia and glial activation at both room and warm temperatures, and reversed dopamine terminal loss at the warm temperature. These protective effects were blocked by the CB1 receptor antagonist AM251 and in CB1 knockout mice, but only partially blocked by CB2 receptor antagonism or knockout, indicating that THC's neuroprotection is primarily mediated by CB1 receptor activation reducing hyperthermia, with CB2 receptors contributing to reduced neuroinflammation.