MADRID, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A Spanish study has found the active component of marijuana may reduce inflammation and help prevent the mental decline associated with Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers at the Cajal Institute and Complutense University in Madrid, led by Maria de Ceballos, conducted studies using human brain tissue, as well as experiments with rats.
The team first compared the brain tissue of patients who died from Alzheimer's disease with that of healthy people who had died at a similar age. They looked closely at cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 -- proteins to which cannabinoids bind, allowing their effects to be felt -- and at microglia, which activate the brain's immune response.
"These findings that cannabinoids work both to prevent inflammation and to protect the brain may set the stage for their use as a therapeutic approach for (Alzheimer's disease)," de Ceballos said.
The study appears in Wednesday's the Journal of Neuroscience.
