Publication Date:
2011-08-03
Description:
It has been known for decades that marijuana causes the “munchies,” i.e., a hunger for palatable food, and for more than 10 y that endocannabinoids (eCBs), in some ways marijuana's counterpart in the organism, are orexigenic mediators (1). When injected in the hypothalamus (HT) or nucleus accumbens (NAc), two key brain areas for the homeostatic and hedonic control of food intake, these compounds stimulate food consumption by acting at the cannabinoid CB1 receptor, one of the two G protein-coupled receptors for marijuana's psychotropic and appetite-inducing component, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (2, 3). Conversely, systemic pharmacological blockade of CB1 receptors causes anorectic effects in...
Print ISSN:
0027-8424
Electronic ISSN:
1091-6490
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
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