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From an Alternative Medicine to a New Treatment for Refractory Epilepsies: Can Cannabidiol Follow the Same Path to Treat Neuropsychiatric Disorders?

Although cannabis has been known for ages as an “alternative medicine” to provide relief from seizures, pain, anxiety, and inflammation, there had always been a limited scientific review to prove and establish its use in clinics. Early studies carried out by Carlini's group in Brazil suggested...

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Autores principales: Bitencourt, Rafael M., Takahashi, Reinaldo N., Carlini, Elisaldo A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7905048/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33643100
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.638032
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author Bitencourt, Rafael M.
Takahashi, Reinaldo N.
Carlini, Elisaldo A.
author_facet Bitencourt, Rafael M.
Takahashi, Reinaldo N.
Carlini, Elisaldo A.
author_sort Bitencourt, Rafael M.
collection PubMed
description Although cannabis has been known for ages as an “alternative medicine” to provide relief from seizures, pain, anxiety, and inflammation, there had always been a limited scientific review to prove and establish its use in clinics. Early studies carried out by Carlini's group in Brazil suggested that cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid present in Cannabis sativa, has anticonvulsant properties in animal models and reduced seizure frequency in limited human trials. Over the past few years, the potential use of cannabis extract in refractory epilepsy, including childhood epilepsies such as Dravet's syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, has opened a new era of treating epileptic patients. Thus, a considerable number of pre-clinical and clinical studies have provided strong evidence that phytocannabinoids has anticonvulsant properties, as well as being promising in the treatment of different neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addiction, neurodegenerative disorders and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Given the advances of cannabinoids, especially CBD, in the treatment of epilepsy, would the same expectation regarding the treatment of other neuropsychiatric disorders be possible? The present review highlights some contributions from Brazilian researchers and other studies reported elsewhere on the history, pre-clinical and clinical data underlying the use of cannabinoids for the already widespread treatment of refractory epilepsies and the possibility of use in the treatment of some neuropsychiatric disorders.
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spelling pubmed-79050482021-02-26 From an Alternative Medicine to a New Treatment for Refractory Epilepsies: Can Cannabidiol Follow the Same Path to Treat Neuropsychiatric Disorders? Bitencourt, Rafael M. Takahashi, Reinaldo N. Carlini, Elisaldo A. Front Psychiatry Psychiatry Although cannabis has been known for ages as an “alternative medicine” to provide relief from seizures, pain, anxiety, and inflammation, there had always been a limited scientific review to prove and establish its use in clinics. Early studies carried out by Carlini's group in Brazil suggested that cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid present in Cannabis sativa, has anticonvulsant properties in animal models and reduced seizure frequency in limited human trials. Over the past few years, the potential use of cannabis extract in refractory epilepsy, including childhood epilepsies such as Dravet's syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, has opened a new era of treating epileptic patients. Thus, a considerable number of pre-clinical and clinical studies have provided strong evidence that phytocannabinoids has anticonvulsant properties, as well as being promising in the treatment of different neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addiction, neurodegenerative disorders and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Given the advances of cannabinoids, especially CBD, in the treatment of epilepsy, would the same expectation regarding the treatment of other neuropsychiatric disorders be possible? The present review highlights some contributions from Brazilian researchers and other studies reported elsewhere on the history, pre-clinical and clinical data underlying the use of cannabinoids for the already widespread treatment of refractory epilepsies and the possibility of use in the treatment of some neuropsychiatric disorders. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-02-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7905048/ /pubmed/33643100 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.638032 Text en Copyright © 2021 Bitencourt, Takahashi and Carlini. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Bitencourt, Rafael M.
Takahashi, Reinaldo N.
Carlini, Elisaldo A.
From an Alternative Medicine to a New Treatment for Refractory Epilepsies: Can Cannabidiol Follow the Same Path to Treat Neuropsychiatric Disorders?
title From an Alternative Medicine to a New Treatment for Refractory Epilepsies: Can Cannabidiol Follow the Same Path to Treat Neuropsychiatric Disorders?
title_full From an Alternative Medicine to a New Treatment for Refractory Epilepsies: Can Cannabidiol Follow the Same Path to Treat Neuropsychiatric Disorders?
title_fullStr From an Alternative Medicine to a New Treatment for Refractory Epilepsies: Can Cannabidiol Follow the Same Path to Treat Neuropsychiatric Disorders?
title_full_unstemmed From an Alternative Medicine to a New Treatment for Refractory Epilepsies: Can Cannabidiol Follow the Same Path to Treat Neuropsychiatric Disorders?
title_short From an Alternative Medicine to a New Treatment for Refractory Epilepsies: Can Cannabidiol Follow the Same Path to Treat Neuropsychiatric Disorders?
title_sort from an alternative medicine to a new treatment for refractory epilepsies: can cannabidiol follow the same path to treat neuropsychiatric disorders?
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7905048/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33643100
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.638032
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