In a research
report in the April 2016 issue of The
FASEB Journal, scientists show that a cannabinoid receptor, called
“CB2,” helps regulate the creation of sperm.
Not only does this provide more
evidence that marijuana can disrupt fertility in males, but it also suggests a
therapeutic strategy for treating male infertility.
“The possibility to improve male fertility is one of the main focuses
of this study, since infertility is a worldwide problem that affect up to 15%
of couples in which male factors account for almost 20-70%,” said Paola
Grimaldi, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of
Biomedicine and Prevention, School of Medicine at the University of Rome Tor
Vergata in Rome, Italy.
To make their discovery, Grimaldi and colleagues treated three groups
of mice with different agents for 14 to 21 days. The first group was treated
with a specific activator of the CB2 receptor. The second group was treated
with a specific inhibitor of the CB2 receptor. The third group received only a
saline solution and served as the control group. The group treated with the CB2
activator showed an acceleration of spermatogenesis, while the group treated
with the inhibitor displayed a slower rate of the process. This suggests that a
tight balance of CB2 activation is required for the proper progression of
spermatogenesis.
“That the normal beneficial effects of endogenous cannabinoids on
spermatogenesis can be stimulated further by a chemical mimic, an agonist, is a
potentially promising new idea for treating male infertility,” said Thoru
Pederson, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief of The
FASEB Journal.
Meanwhile, Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have discovered
that marijuana-like chemicals trigger receptors on human immune cells that can
directly inhibit a type of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) found in
late-stage AIDS, according to new findings published online in the journal PLoS ONE.
Medical marijuana has been prescribed to treat pain, debilitating
weight loss and appetite suppression, side effects that are common in advanced
AIDS. This is the first study to reveal how the marijuana receptors found on
immune cells — called cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 — can influence the
spread of the virus. Understanding the effect of these receptors on the virus
could help scientists develop new drugs to slow the progression of AIDS.
“We knew that cannabinoid drugs like marijuana can have a therapeutic
effect in AIDS patients, but did not understand how they influence the spread
of the virus itself,” said study author Cristina Costantino, PhD, Postdoctoral
Fellow in the Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at Mount
Sinai School of Medicine. “We wanted to explore cannabinoid receptors as a
target for pharmaceutical interventions that treat the symptoms of late-stage
AIDS and prevent further progression of the disease without the undesirable
side effects of medical marijuana.”
HIV infects active immune cells that carry the viral receptor CD4,
which makes these cells unable to fight off the infection. In order to spread,
the virus requires that “resting” immune cells be activated. In advanced AIDS,
HIV mutates so it can infect these resting cells, gaining entry into the cell
by using a signaling receptor called CXCR4. By treating the cells with a
cannabinoid agonist that triggers CB2, Dr. Costantino and the Mount Sinai team
found that CB2 blocked the signaling process, and suppressed infection in
resting immune cells.
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