Potheads send Alzheimer's up in smoke | Health | The Australian:
"IT seems illogical, but the same compound that addles the brains of marijuana users may help treat the symptoms and slow the onset of Alzheimer's disease, the leading cause of dementia among elderly people.
In laboratory experiments, the compound, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), preserved levels of a brain chemical that declines in Alzheimer's, permitting the build-up of brain-gumming 'amyloid plaques'.
The plaques are the hallmark of Alzheimer's and its dementia-inducing damage.
'Our results provide a mechanism whereby the THC molecule can directly impact Alzheimer's disease pathology,' researchers reported in the US journal Molecular Pharmaceutics."
"IT seems illogical, but the same compound that addles the brains of marijuana users may help treat the symptoms and slow the onset of Alzheimer's disease, the leading cause of dementia among elderly people.
In laboratory experiments, the compound, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), preserved levels of a brain chemical that declines in Alzheimer's, permitting the build-up of brain-gumming 'amyloid plaques'.
The plaques are the hallmark of Alzheimer's and its dementia-inducing damage.
'Our results provide a mechanism whereby the THC molecule can directly impact Alzheimer's disease pathology,' researchers reported in the US journal Molecular Pharmaceutics."
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