Hua, Daniel Ying-Heng;
Hindocha, Chandni;
Baio, Gianluca;
Lees, Rachel;
Shaban, Natacha;
Morgan, Celia J;
Mofeez, Ali;
... Freeman, Tom P; + view all
(2023)
Effects of cannabidiol on anandamide levels in individuals with cannabis use disorder: findings from a randomised clinical trial for the treatment of cannabis use disorder.
Translational Psychiatry
, 13
, Article 131. 10.1038/s41398-023-02410-9.
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Abstract
Cannabidiol (CBD) has shown promise in treating psychiatric disorders, including cannabis use disorder - a major public health burden with no approved pharmacotherapies. However, the mechanisms through which CBD acts are poorly understood. One potential mechanism of CBD is increasing levels of anandamide, which has been implicated in psychiatric disorders including depression and cannabis use disorder. However, there is a lack of placebo-controlled human trials investigating this in psychiatric disorders. We therefore assessed whether CBD affects plasma anandamide levels compared to placebo, within a randomised clinical trial of CBD for the treatment of cannabis use disorder. Individuals meeting criteria for cannabis use disorder and attempting cannabis cessation were randomised to 28-day administration with placebo (n = 23), 400 mg CBD/day (n = 24) or 800 mg CBD/day (n = 23). We estimated the effects of each CBD dose compared to placebo on anandamide levels from baseline to day 28. Analyses were conducted both unadjusted and adjusted for cannabis use during the trial to account for effects of cannabis on the endocannabinoid system. We also investigated whether changes in plasma anandamide levels were associated with clinical outcomes relevant for cannabis use disorder (cannabis use, withdrawal, anxiety, depression). There was an effect of 800 mg CBD compared to placebo on anandamide levels from baseline to day 28 after adjusting for cannabis use. Pairwise comparisons indicated that anandamide levels unexpectedly reduced from baseline to day 28 in the placebo group (-0.048, 95% CI [-0.089, -0.007]), but did not change in the 800 mg CBD group (0.005, 95% CI [-0.036, 0.047]). There was no evidence for an effect of 400 mg CBD compared to placebo. Changes in anandamide levels were not associated with clinical outcomes. In conclusion, this study found preliminary evidence that 28-day treatment with CBD modulates anandamide levels in individuals with cannabis use disorder at doses of 800 mg/day but not 400 mg/day compared to placebo.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Effects of cannabidiol on anandamide levels in individuals with cannabis use disorder: findings from a randomised clinical trial for the treatment of cannabis use disorder |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41398-023-02410-9 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02410-9 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Statistical Science |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10169000 |
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