Cannabinoids remove plaque-forming Alzheimer's proteins from brain cells (2016) (salk.edu)

by anjel 112 comments 178 points
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112 comments

[−] Aurornis 62d ago
I only had time to skim the paper. Notably, the effect is concentration dependent and required high concentrations of THC. The chart shows it really starting in the 0.1uM range and then taking off in the 1uM range.

I don’t know what levels are achieved during normal use but I did find some studies that successfully killed a lot of hippocampal neuronal cells after 6 days at 1uM range. So the levels of THC observed in this study appear to be in the same range where things start getting really disrupted in cells.

In other words, don’t expect to replicate these results with normal recreational use.

[−] KennyBlanken 61d ago
I suppose this might be why Willie Nelson is still doing pretty good these days...
[−] butlike 61d ago
It's stress. I'm convinced of it. Little old lady is smoking cigars at 105 years old because she's stress-free. Willie Nelson is looking sharp for his age because he's low-stress. If it helps reduce your personal stress, perhaps...PERHAPS, it's a good thing.
[−] aswegs8 61d ago
You might have replied to the wrong comment. OP implied it would have no impact
[−] vercaemert 61d ago
The joke is that Willie Nelson has used very high concentrations simultaneously frying his brain cells and staving off Alzheimer's.
[−] __alexs 61d ago
In vitro studies are not so great for establishing threshold doses surely?
[−] mrosett 62d ago
Reminds me of this classic: https://xkcd.com/1217/
[−] rolph 61d ago
quick back of the envelope:

this would require 3 joints of ~ 300 mg cannabis at ~ 30% THC content.

the legendary MTF strain regularily trumpets a 25-30% THC content.

now if bioavailability is 30% that means you need 9 or 10 joints to get a 1 micro molar total dosage. that dose is distributed across body mass.

at this point, i cant say i could conceive of anyone smoking basically an 1/8 ounce of MTA in one day, let alone at one sitting, and doing that for 6 days in a row sounds frightening, not recreational.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrocannabinol

[−] sixeyes 61d ago
I'm pretty sure 0.1 µmol per liter and such absolutely does happen in recreational use. (Recreational use is toxic, destroys memory, etc.)
[−] jojobas 62d ago
Can't have Alzheimer's if you don't have much of a brain left.
[−] jcranmer 62d ago
Too bad we've had like a half-dozen putative Alzheimer's drugs that clear amyloid beta that turn out to do nothing to slow or prevent Alzheimer's.

Actually, I think even by 2016 we already had enough phase 3 drug failures that the amyloid hypothesis was severely called into question?

[−] cdata 62d ago
This appears to be dated 2016. Did the preliminary results amount to anything?
[−] laughing_man 62d ago
Do we still think clearing beta amyloid plaques will halt the progress of Alzheimer's? My impression is we're treating marker for the disease and not the cause.
[−] rusakov-field 62d ago
Man, too bad weed gives me bad panic attacks. Alzheimers is the scariest disease I know so maybe if the studies pan out in time and it becomes a standard preventative, I might consider trying again.

But somehow I doubt it will be found to be that effective.