🔄FROM THE ARCHIVE: Slightly stoned mice show marijuana may fight age-related memory loss.
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But not these rodent seniors. “You can’t tell the difference between them and two-month-old mice,” says Zimmer. The mildly baked mice, along with their THC-free counterparts serving as control subjects, are tested in a sort of rodent psychiatric playground near their cages. Under the gaze of video cameras and red light that’s friendly to nocturnal eyes, the mice navigate various cages and tanks. They face gizmos and structures designed to assess their mental prowess: their powers of recall, facility in learning new tasks, willingness to come out of hiding and interest in finding other mice.
In fact, the CB1 receptor was far more than just a mechanism for feeling stoned. Most receptors are confined to specific regions of the brain, or only show up in neurons associated with specific brain activities, such as memory, emotion, sight or motor control. But CB1 soon proved to be one of the most ubiquitous brain receptors ever discovered: It was found throughout the brains of humans, mice and most creatures, indicating it was involved with virtually everything that happens in the brain.
In their CB1 work, scientists had a promising target, and in THC they had their arrow. By 2018, about a dozen labs around the world were looking at THC and its effects on dementia. But Zimmer had the funding and a big enough team to push further and faster with focus. With his 2017paper, his lab had become the first to clearly show that a THC treatment turned the clock back on mice’s aging brains. Now it had to shift into higher gear: proving that THC can do for humans what it does for mice.
Think of the brain as a car. In children and teenagers, brains are in the throes of rapid development and change, like a car that tends to speed dangerously. To help calm things down, the brain’s CB1 system naturally steps up and acts as a brake, no external THC needed. This slows down brain activity and ensures a safe drive.
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