Marijuana-like compound helps old rats remember
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 at 12:36 pm | By: Radical Russ
Bloomberg.com:
Science
Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) — A daily puff of a compound like marijuana, the plant blamed for ruining potheads’ recall, might help maintain memory in old age, researchers who tried it on rats reported today at a neuroscience meeting.Elderly rats remembered their way around a swimming pool and could find hidden resting spots after Yannick Marchalant and his colleagues at Ohio State University gave them a compound that mimics the effect of marijuana on the brain’s cannabis receptors. The marijuana-like drug, known as WIN-55212-2, spurred new brain cell growth and reduced inflammation, the researchers said.
Inflammation in the brain may be linked to the development or progression of Alzheimer’s, a progressive disease that destroys brain cells, disrupting the memory and cognitive capacity of some 4.5 million Americans, some scientists believe. Marchalant and his colleagues have been hunting for drugs to reduce inflammation.
“We used a low dose because we didn’t want to give them a drug that tried to save their memory while we’re also causing psychoactive effects,” Marchalant said in a telephone interview yesterday. “The dosage of WIN would be like giving one puff a day and not a whole joint.”
Once again, a news report that opens with the slur “potheads”. The term “cannabis users” or “marijuana users” would’ve worked just fine in that sentence. It wasn’t a headline, where you’re trying to save space. It is bad enough that Bloomberg promotes the notion that “potheads” can’t recall things when research from as recent as 2006 shows that:
“No evidence was found for long-term deficits in working memory and selective attention in frequent cannabis users after one week of abstinence” compared to non-using healthy controls, authors concluded. “Furthermore, cannabis users did not differ from controls in terms of overall patterns of brain activity in the regions involved in these cognitive functions.”
…but to compound the medical/scientific error with a social faux pas of using derogatory epithets in what purports to be a “news” story is even worse.
Attention news media! When referring to the plant, we prefer “cannabis”. ”Marijuana” is a Mexican slang term borne of early 20th-century racism, and should only be used in the context of “medical marijuana”, as that is the term used in statute. ”Dope”, “grass”, “weed”, and “pot” are questionable (especially “dope”, with its connotation with heroin). If your context is humorous or trying to capture “street” terminology, those might be used, but never in the context of medical use of cannabis (e.g., “medi-pot”, “medical weed”, “pot doctors”).
When referring to us, “pothead” and “stoner” are to be avoided as you would avoid “queer” or “negro”. We are “cannabis consumers” or “cannabis users”. If you need to refer to someone who truly has a problem with cannabis use, “cannabis abuser” is preferred to “cannabis addict”.
But I digress. Neat story about the rat brains. This helps support some of the other research into the role cannabinoid medicines can play in fighting degenerative brain disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.
Topics: Alzheimer's disease
