Large-scale research conducted by Stanford Medicine scientists revealed that the marijuana it could increase the risk of heart attack and heart disease. The study found that the psychoactive component of the drug, known as THC, causes inflammation in the endothelial cells that line the inside of blood vessels, as well as atherosclerosis in laboratory experiments..
The result of the Research was published in the scientific journal Cell.
Marijuana: Here’s what the real effect is on the heart
Stanford Medicine experts also found that inflammation and atherosclerosis can be blocked by a small molecule called genistein that occurs naturally in soy and beans. Since genistein has limited brain penetration, it does not inhibit THC’s ability to stimulate appetite, dull pain and suppress nausea, vital characteristics for medicinal marijuana users.
“As more states legalize the recreational use of marijuana, consumers need to be aware that it could have cardiovascular side effects“, he has declared Joseph Wu, professor of cardiovascular medicine and radiology and director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute.
“But genistein works well enough to mitigate marijuana-induced damage to endothelial vessels without blocking the effects marijuana has on the central nervous system, and could be a way for medical marijuana users to protect themselves from a cardiovascular point of view. “continued the expert.
The THCor tetrahydrocannabinolis a controlled substance in the United States and therefore strictly regulated in medical research: the researchers stated that the long-term health effects of regular use remain largely unclear.
“Marijuana has a significantly negative effect on the cardiovascular system“Said the instructor of medicine Mark Chandy: “As more and more states legalize marijuana use, I expect we will start to see an increase in heart attacks and strokes in the coming years. Our studies in human cells and mice clearly delineate how exposure to THC initiates a harmful molecular cascade in blood vessels. It is not a benign drug “.
Wu, who has the professorship Simon H. Stertzeris the senior author of the study. Chandy shares primary authorship with the former postdoctoral scholar Tzu-Tang Weiand the instructor Masataka Nishiga.
In order to better carry out this research, the scientists recruited a sample of about 500,000 people between the ages of 40 and 69.. The data was made available by the UK biobank. Nearly 35,000 participants reported smoking cannabis, of which around 11,000 smoked more than once a month.
Smokers who smoked more than once a month are at greater risk than others in the study of having a heart attack, after controlling for other factors including age, BMI, and gender. The researchers found that Frequent marijuana smokers are also more likely than non-users to have their first heart attack before age 50, an unusual medical event called a premature heart attack that increases a person’s lifelong risk of subsequent heart attacks, heart failure, and life , threatening arrhythmias that can cause sudden death.
Inflammation of the blood vessels is a hallmark of atherosclerosis, the thickening of the vessel wall due to the accumulation of plaques made up of fats, cholesterol and other substances, which can lead to heart attack. The researchers found that the levels of inflammatory molecules in the blood of the volunteers who smoked a marijuana cigarette increased significantly over the next three hours.
They also showed that THC promotes inflammation and atherosclerosis characteristics in human endothelial cells grown in the laboratory.. Finally, lab mice bred to have high cholesterol levels and fed a high-fat diet developed significantly larger plaques of atherosclerosis when injected with THC at levels comparable to smoking a marijuana cigarette per day.
THC binds to a receptor called CB1 on cells in the human brain, heart, and vascular system. The receptor recognizes naturally occurring cannabinoids, or endocannabinoids, which regulate mood, pain perception, immune function and metabolism. But frequent marijuana use causes inappropriate activation of CB1, which can cause inflammation and atherosclerosis, and is associated with obesity, cancer and diabetes.
Researchers have tried to develop molecules called antagonists to block CB1 function in conditions where the receptor is overactive, such as obesity, but until now the use of the antagonists has been hampered by psychiatric side effects including mood and anxiety resulting from their activity in the brain.
Machine learning techniques were exploited during the study to select a large database of protein structures and identify molecules structurally similar to the previously identified CB1 antagonists that could block the inflammatory and atherosclerotic properties of THC without causing psychiatric side effects.
The researchers found that genistein, a naturally occurring molecule in soybeans, binds to CB1 but has poor brain penetration. When they added the genistein molecule to THC-treated human endothelial cells or administered it to mice injected with high cholesterol THC, they found that genistein blocked the deleterious effects of the drug and did not block THC’s psychoactive effects on the brain.
“We did not see any blocking of the normal pain-relieving or sedative effects of THC in mice contributing to the potentially useful medicinal properties of marijuana.“Said Chandy. “Hence genistein is potentially a safer drug than previous CB1 antagonists. It is already used as a dietary supplement and 99% stays out of the brain, so it shouldn’t cause these particular negative side effects. “
The second step of the research will be to conduct clinical studies to find out if genistein can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in marijuana users.. Scientists would also like to extend their studies to include CBD, another marijuana cannabinoid that doesn’t have the psychoactive effects of THC.
“There is a growing public perception that marijuana is harmless or even beneficial“, has explained Wucomparing the legalization of marijuana use to vaping, which was initially marketed as a safe way to quit smoking but has since been shown to cause lung damage and lead to increased tobacco use: “Marijuana clearly has important medicinal uses, but recreational users should think carefully about excessive use. “
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