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Projekt Druckansicht

Die Rolle des Endocannabinoid-Systems bei Alterungsprozessen

Fachliche Zuordnung Molekulare Biologie und Physiologie von Nerven- und Gliazellen
Förderung Förderung von 2019 bis 2023
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 426320013
 
Erstellungsjahr 2024

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

Mice with constitutive or conditional deletion of the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) showed accelerated brain ageing and early onset of several symptoms of physical ageing. Increased CB1 receptor activity improved learning and memory functions, and restored synapse density and gene expression profiles in the brains of old individuals to those of young individuals. All these findings suggest that the activity of the cannabinoid system influences the ageing process. However, it was not known whether CB1 receptor activity exerts its anti-aging effect locally or systematically. Our present work has shown that animals with hippocampus-specific deletion have a similar memory deficit and neuroinflammation as the conditional knockout animals. Hypothalamus-specific deletion of CB1 receptors led to neuroinflammation and impaired insulin-like growth factor signalling in the hypothalamus without histological evidence of altered physical ageing. These results now show that 1. local CB1 receptor activity is responsible for regulating glial inflammatory activity and thus ageing in the brain. 2. Hypothalamic CB1 receptor activity and the resulting neuroinflammation per se do not significantly influence physical ageing. Finally, we reported that chronic lowdose treatment with tetrahydrocannabinol alone was more effective in improving learning in aged mice than the 1:1 combination of tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol. This finding is important for the design of clinical trials to test the antiageing effects of cannabis derivatives.

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

 
 

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