Faculty Collaboration Database

Antidepressant-like effect of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol and other cannabinoids isolated from Cannabis sativa L. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2010 Jun;95(4):434-42

Date

03/25/2010

Pubmed ID

20332000

Pubmed Central ID

PMC2866040

DOI

10.1016/j.pbb.2010.03.004

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-77952551436 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   237 Citations

Abstract

The antidepressant action of cannabis as well as the interaction between antidepressants and the endocannabinoid system has been reported. This study was conducted to assess the antidepressant-like activity of Delta(9)-THC and other cannabinoids. Cannabinoids were initially evaluated in the mouse tetrad assay to determine doses that do not induce hypothermia or catalepsy. The automated mouse forced swim (FST) and tail suspension (TST) tests were used to determine antidepressant action. At doses lacking hypothermic and cataleptic effects (1.25, 2.5, and 5 mg/kg, i.p.), both Delta(9)-THC and Delta(8)-THC showed a U-shaped dose response with only Delta(9)-THC showing significant antidepressant-like effects at 2.5 mg/kg (p<0.05) in the FST. The cannabinoids cannabigerol (CBG) and cannabinol (CBN) did not produce antidepressant-like actions up to 80 mg/kg in the mouse FST, while cannabichromene (CBC) and cannabidiol (CBD) exhibited significant effect at 20 and 200mg/kg, respectively (p<0.01). The antidepressant-like action of Delta(9)-THC and CBC was further confirmed in the TST. Delta(9)-THC exhibited the same U-shaped dose response with significant antidepressant-like action at 2.5 mg/kg (p<0.05) while CBC resulted in a significant dose-dependent decrease in immobility at 40 and 80 mg/kg doses (p<0.01). Results of this study show that Delta(9)-THC and other cannabinoids exert antidepressant-like actions, and thus may contribute to the overall mood-elevating properties of cannabis.

Author List

El-Alfy AT, Ivey K, Robinson K, Ahmed S, Radwan M, Slade D, Khan I, ElSohly M, Ross S

Author

Abir El-Alfy PhD Assistant Dean, Professor in the School of Pharmacy Administration department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Animals
Antidepressive Agents
Cannabidiol
Cannabinoids
Cannabis
Catalepsy
Depression
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Dronabinol
Hindlimb Suspension
Hypothermia
Immobility Response, Tonic
Male
Mice
Random Allocation
Swimming