Trojan horse-effect? CBD helps facilitate the uptake of medication in the brain, says new research

19 Apr 2019 --- A study of cannabidiol (CBD) has found that the non-psychoactive compound in cannabis could have a new application as a “Trojan horse” – helping slip medications across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and into the brain. Research of this effect was conducted by scientists at the Complutense University in Spain, through a mouse study. Medication absorbed quicker and more efficiently with help from CBD reduces the need for high dosages, thus lowering the risk of toxicity, according to the researchers. The report was published in the ACS journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.

“Currently, we are working with antitumor drugs for the treatment of gliomas. To achieve effective treatments of gliomas, the antitumor drug has to reach the tumor in the brain. This is not easy due to the presence of the BBB. Very high doses of the drug in blood are needed to get small concentrations in the brain. These high doses are responsible for the high toxicity of these drugs which, in turn, limits their use,” researcher Dr. Ana Isabel Torres-Suárez tells NutritionInsight. 

“By increasing the passage of drug to the brain, through using nanocarriers decorated with CBD (like a Trojan horse that carries the antitumor drug inside), we hope to increase the efficacy of antitumor drugs without increasing its toxicity,” she further highlights.

Medication “decorated” with CBD is absorbed more easily
The BBB consists of a layer of tightly linked cells that line capillaries in the brain, preventing substances from exiting the blood and entering the brain. The barrier acts as a gatekeeper, only permitting certain molecules to pass, such as glucose, some amino acids and neurotransmitters. Endocannabinoids (a class of neurotransmitters) bind to proteins (cannabinoid receptors) in the BBB, which facilitates the transport of the molecules across the barrier and into the brain. 

In the study, the researchers attached CBD – a compound resembling endocannabinoids made by both mice and humans – to the outside surfaces of lipid nanocarriers. Instead of loading the nanocapsules with a medication, the researchers packaged them with a fluorescent molecule to track the particles. 

In experiments with human brain cells that mimic the BBB, researchers found that more of the fluorescent molecules passed through the cells when paired with CBD-displaying nanocarriers, than nanocarriers of equal size that lacked CBD. Similarly, when injected into healthy mice, the CBD-decorated nanocarriers delivered around 2.5 times more of the fluorescent molecule to the animals’ brains.

Despite regulatory underdevelopment, a nascent market is growing
Touted for its potency in alleviating a wide range of health conditions, from anxiety to epilepsy – CBD is growing increasingly popular in food, beverage and nutritional applications. And innovation in NPD for CBD is expanding. As an example – earlier this year, healthy lifestyle company Gabriella’s Kitchen added a fourth brand, alto, to represent its cannabis- and hemp-infused products – creating the cannabis sector’s first “savory and nutritionally dense THC- and CBD-infused edibles brand.” Innova Market Insights notes that with the completion of the financing, the company is primed to rapidly fill the pent-up demand for THC and CBD-infused nutritional products.

The market for CBD products has been previously noted for “growing exponentially” and as such, industry has been calling for clarity and leniency in regulation of the compound. The Hemp Business Journal estimates that the hemp CBD market totaled US$190 million in 2018. This is an astounding rate of growth for a category that didn’t officially exist five years ago. 

The removal of hemp from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in December last year, which legalized the cannabis derivative to a certain extent, has risen the hopes of CBD proponents. Next month, in a bid to protect cannabis consumers’ interests, the FDA will be meeting to discuss “lawful pathways by which products containing cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds can be marketed.” 

By Benjamin Ferrer