Cannabinoids May Protect Against Essential Tremor, New Study Finds
A new study published by the British Journal of Pharmacology has found that cannabinoids may protect against the behavioral disturbances caused by an essential tremor.
“Essential tremor (ET) is a neurological disorder with unknown etiology”, states the study’s abstract. “Its symptoms include cerebellar motor disturbances, cognitive and personality changes, hearing and olfactory deficits.”
For the study researchers “set out to establish the effects of cannabinoid type 1 receptor agonism [such as cannabinoids] and antagonism in an established rodent model of ET using a battery of accepted behaviour assays in order to determine risk and therapeutic potential of endocannabinoid system modulation in ET.”
The behavioural effects of a systemic cannabinoid (CB) receptor agonist meant to mimic the effects of natural cannabinoids were examined on tremor in rats using “tremor scoring, open field, rotarod, grip and gait tests.”
After conducting the experiments, researchers states that there results “provide the first evidence of effects of endocannabinoid system modulation on motor function in the harmaline model of essential tremor and suggest that CB1 receptor manipulation warrants clinical investigation as a therapeutic approach to protection against behavioural disturbances associated with essential tremor.”
The full study can be found by clicking here.