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This volume explores research on marijuana-like substances produced naturally by the human body and brain. These endogenous lipid molecules, or endocannabinoids, constitute a uniquely conserved and ubiquitous physiological control system in a variety of species and plays fundamental roles in development and cell death. The authors discuss this remarkable progress in marijuana research including identification of genes encoding endocannabinoid receptors, isolation of endocannabinoids and entourage ligands, and functional identification of transporters and enzymes for the biosynthesis and degradation of these endogenous substances.
List of contents
Historical Aspects and Chemistry. Genetics, Signaling and Receptors. Biochemistry of the Endocannabinoid System. Endocannabinoids in CNS Physiology. Endocannabinoids in CNS Pathology. Endocannabinoids in Peripheral Organ Systems. Endocannabinoids in Non-Mammals. Perspective.
About the author
Emmanuel S. Onaivi, Takayuki Sugiura, Vincenzo Di Marzo
Summary
Over the past decade, there have been major advances in understanding the mechanisms whereby marijuana interacts with the brain in producing psychoactive and potentially therapeutic effects. The discovery of specific gene coding for cannabinoid receptors activated by smoking marijuana, and the finding of endogenous cannabinoids, which also activate the receptors, have transformed cannabinoid research into mainstream science with significant implications in human health and disease
Endocannabinoids: The Brain and Body’s Marijuana and Beyond documentsadvances in the discovery and functioning of naturally occurring marijuana-like substances in human biology. It explores recent findings that point to the existence of an endocannabinoid physiological control system (EPCS) that directly impacts human development, health, and disease. While cannabinoid effects on the brain have received the greatest attention throughout the literature, this work looks at research on the endogenous cannabinoid system’s association across all of human physiology, including the immune, endocrine, and reproductive systems.
With thoroughly researched and exceptionally insightful contributions from more than three-dozen top-flight researchers representing a cross-section of disciplines from molecular biology, genetics, and neurology to gynecology, physiology, and pharmacology, this work explores a range of topics as wide as the human body is complex. These topics include the EPCS’s relation to cell development and regulation, CNS function, immune function modulation, reproduction, and digestion, as well as its function in mental illness, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer.
The final section in the book considers the significance of endogenous cannabinoids found in some of the simplest multicellular organisms in the animal kingdom, as well as in mammalian cells at the earliest stages of development, all of which suggests that they play a fundamental role in human biology.
