Reading, United Kingdom–(ENEWSPF)–21 January 2011. The administration of the nonpsychotropic cannabinoid CBD (cannabidiol) significantly reduces the incidences and severity of seizures, according to preclinical data published online in Seizure: The Journal of the British Epilepsy Association.
Investigators at the University of Reading, School of Pharmacy, in the United Kingdom assessed the anticonvulsant activity of CBD (administered in 1, 10, and 100mg/kg doses) in two established rodent seizure models, the acute pilocarpine model of temporal lobe seizure and the penicillin model of partial seizure. Seizure activity was video recorded and scored offline using model-specific seizure severity scales.
Authors reported: “CBD (all doses) significantly reduced the percentage of animals experiencing the most severe pilocarpine-induced seizures. In the penicillin model, CBD (all doses) significantly increased the percentage of seizure-free animals; CBD (100mg/kg) decreased the percentage of animals experiencing the most severe seizures, decreased median seizure severity and showed a strong trend to reduce mortality.”
They concluded, “[T]hese results extend the anti-convulsant profile of CBD; when combined with a reported absence of psychoactive effects, this evidence strongly supports CBD as a therapeutic candidate for a diverse range of human epilepsies.”
Survey data published in 2004 in the journal Neurology reported that 21 percent of subjects with epilepsy had used marijuana in the past year, “with the majority of active users reporting beneficial effects on seizures.”
Source: norml.org
