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Cannabinoid receptor CB1 prevents the development of senile dementia
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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The cannabinoid receptor CB1 helps neurons resist inflammatory processes and age-related changes in the brain that lead to the death of nerve cells.
Our brain ages along with the body, and the death of nerve cells over time leads to what is medically known as senile dementia (or, more commonly, senile dementia). The factors that determine the rate of brain aging remain largely a mystery, although the most common causes that accelerate the degeneration of nerve tissue can be named: stress, accumulation of toxic substances, inflammatory processes that intensify with age. On the other hand, the human body has a set of tools that help protect nerve tissue from dying too quickly or even heal the damage received.
Researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Mainz (both in Germany) report that a rather unique protein molecule, the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1), may act as a brain protector.
This receptor, of course, doesn't just exist to bind THC; the brain itself has a system of endocannabinoid switches (like anandamide) for neural signals that bind to CB1 on the surface of neurons. As it turns out, turning off this receptor leads to accelerated brain aging.
The researchers conducted experiments with mice of different ages, some of which were very young, six weeks old, others were five months old (that is, middle-aged), and still others were one-year-old "old men." The mice were launched into a water maze, where they had to find a platform to which they could climb out. When the subjects remembered the location of the treasured platform, it was moved, and the animals had to look for it again.
As scientists write in the journal PNAS, mice whose cannabinoid receptor did not work had difficulty finding the saving island, showing impairments in memory and learning abilities. Such animals showed increased neuronal mortality in the hippocampus, the brain region responsible for the “accumulation” of memory. The absence of working cannabinoid receptors increased inflammatory risks in the brain and neuronal death from inflammation, while the presence of these receptors ensured that auxiliary glial cells counteracted inflammatory processes.
Without the receptors, the brains of mice aged faster and suffered much greater neuronal loss than the brains of normal animals. It is likely that the entire endocannabinoid system is responsible for keeping the brain healthy, and the CB1 receptor is just one part of it. Scientists have yet to figure out exactly how this system prevents nerve cell death; at least for now, they are holding off on recommending more marijuana use in old age.
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