Basavarajappa Balapal S, Subbanna Shivakumar
Division of Analytical Psychopharmacology, Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY 10962, USA.
New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Brain Sci. 2019 Jan 16;9(1):14. doi: 10.3390/brainsci9010014.
The chief psychoactive constituent of many bioactive phytocannabinoids (Δ⁸-tetrahydrocannabinol, Δ⁸-THC) found in hemp, cannabis or marijuana plants are scientifically denoted by the Latin term, , acts on cell surface receptors. These receptors are ubiquitously expressed. To date, two cannabinoid receptors have been cloned and characterized. Cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1R) is found to serve as the archetype for cannabinoid action in the brain. They have attracted wide interest as the mediator of all psychoactive properties of exogenous and endogenous cannabinoids and they are abundantly expressed on most inhibitory and excitatory neurons. Recent evidence established that cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2R) is also expressed in the neurons at both presynaptic and postsynaptic terminals and are involved in neuropsychiatric effects. Distinct types of cells in many regions in the brain express CB2Rs and the cellular origin of CB2Rs that induce specific behavioral effects are emerging. To mimic the bliss effects of marijuana, synthetic cannabinoids (SCBs) have been sprayed onto plant material, and this plant material has been consequently packaged and sold under brand name "Spice" or "K2". These SCBs have been shown to maintain their affinity and functional activity for CB1R and CB2R and have been shown to cause severe harmful effects when compared to the effects of Δ⁸-THC. The present review discusses the potential brain mechanisms that are involved in the deleterious effects of SCBs.
在大麻、印度大麻或大麻植物中发现的许多生物活性植物大麻素（Δ⁸-四氢大麻酚，Δ⁸-THC）的主要精神活性成分，在科学上用拉丁术语表示，作用于细胞表面受体。这些受体广泛表达。迄今为止，已克隆并鉴定出两种大麻素受体。大麻素受体1型（CB1R）被发现是大脑中大麻素作用的原型。它们作为外源性和内源性大麻素所有精神活性特性的介质引起了广泛关注，并且在大多数抑制性和兴奋性神经元上大量表达。最近的证据表明，大麻素受体2型（CB2R）也在突触前和突触后终末的神经元中表达，并参与神经精神效应。大脑许多区域的不同类型细胞表达CB2R，诱导特定行为效应的CB2R的细胞起源正在显现。为了模仿大麻的愉悦效果，合成大麻素（SCBs）已被喷洒在植物材料上，这种植物材料随后被包装并以“香料”或“K2”的品牌出售。这些SCBs已被证明对CB1R和CB2R保持其亲和力和功能活性，并且与Δ⁸-THC的效果相比已被证明会导致严重的有害影响。本综述讨论了与SCBs有害影响相关的潜在脑机制。
