Cannabis Possible Treatment For Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease
Dec 18th, 2009 | By admin | Category: Featured, MarijuanaResearchers have found that two compounds found in cannabis may help to treat inflammatory bowel diseases such as Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease.
The compounds — THC and cannabidiol — seem to react with the body’s system that controls “gut function”.
Dr Karen Wright, Peel Trust Lecturer in Biomedicine at Lancaster University, presented her soon-to-be published work at The British Pharmacological Society’s Winter Meeting in London this week.
She said: “The lining of the intestines provides a barrier against the contents of the gut but in people with Crohn’s Disease this barrier leaks and bacteria can escape into the intestinal tissue leading to an inappropriate immune response.
“If we could find a way to restore barrier integrity in patients we may be able to curb the inflammatory immune response that causes these chronic conditions.”
Dr Wright, working with colleagues at the School of Graduate Entry Medicine and Health in Derby, has shown that cells that react to cannabinoid compounds play an important role in normal gut function as well as the immune system’s inflammatory response.
This may give more ammunition to pro-legalization forces when California voters go to the polls next year to decide if marijuana should be made legal.
Source: The Medical News
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