Now that cannabidiol (CBD) is readily and legally available for research purposes, more and more studies are being conducted into the medicinal properties of the cannabinoid. The results of many of these studies have shown that CBD offers a wide variety of health benefits for treating a wide variety of diseases.
In a 2020 study funded by the British Medical Association Foundation’s Margaret Temple Award for Medical Research, a team of researchers examined the effects of CBD on cerebral blood flow (CBF) and its relationship with memory.[1]
Healthy and strong CBF is important to human health. A decrease in CBF in the hippocampus, a key region in the brain that supports learning and memory, has been linked to a variety of diseases.[1] If CBD affects CBF in certain regions of the brain that are important to memory, it could have a number of useful uses.
In this study, the researchers recruited 15 participants for a placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized study, including nine women and six men.[1] The subjects received either 600 mg of oral CBD or a placebo (inactive substance) in gelatin capsules on different days.
Three hours after taking CBD or placebo, the researchers measured the regional CBF at rest. They also tested working memory using the digit tension and N-back tasks and episodic memory with a prose recall task. These are common tests used to clinically assess learning and memory function.
Although the memory tasks showed no significant drug effect, the researchers found that CBD increased CBF in the hippocampus.[1] Many diseases are made worse or caused by decreased blood flow to the hippocampus, including Alzheimer’s and neuropsychiatric disorders.
It is important to note that these results contradict the results of other studies. While measuring CBF is an important way of looking at brain function, there are many different factors that affect CBF levels and so it is not directly related to function as CBD does not affect memory performance.
Credit: Anna Shvets
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reference
- Bloomfield M et al. The Effects of Acute Cannabidiol on Cerebral Blood Flow and Its Relationship to Memory: A Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study Using Arterial Spin Marking. Journal of Psychopharmacology. 2020; 34 (9): 981- 989