3 minute read
ALZHEIMER’S
BY MICHELLE MARTIN
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease caused from damage to brain cells. The disease usually affects memory and the ability to learn new things first, then progresses to changes in behavior, confusion, and in later stages to an inability to carry on activities of daily life. The disease is one among many that lead to dementia. About 50 million people live with some form of dementia in the world and about 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases are due to Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. 1
Patients experience these changes in memory and behavior when cells in their brain are damaged and can no longer communicate with one another. Communication in a typical brain happens when an electrical signal travels within one neuron to where it meets another neuron. When the signal reaches the gap between them, called a synapse, the cell releases small chemicals called neurotransmitters. Alzheimer’s interferes with both how the electrical charges travel and the neurotransmitter activity. The cause of the damage is unclear, but two signs of the damage are abnormal clumping of proteins called beta-amyloid plaques and twisted protein strands called tangles.
The plaques are thought to block communication between cells and they may also cause an inflammation response and eventual demise of damaged neurons. The tangles prevent the passage of nutrients and waste to and from neurons. Treatments for Alzheimer’s, as with other forms of dementia, do not slow or stop the disease progression, but they can sometimes help with symptoms.
Typical symptoms include memory loss and trouble speaking, thinking and problem solving, and changes in mood, sensitivity to sensations, personality and behavior. Caregivers will often try things like adjusting sensory input, such as adjusting clothing, offering rest or food, to help the patient feel better. When those kinds of things fail, they may turn to medications, though these are often off-label medications that are approved to treat depression or other conditions. Because of the limited evidence supporting these medications, as well as their side-effects, researchers have been interested in cannabinoids as a possible treatment.
In one human study 2 , researchers looked at whether Dranabinoid, a synthetic THC, would be useful in treating agitation and aggression in patients with severe dementia. They gave the medicine to 40 patients. The study, published in 2014 in “The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry,” found that patients had a decrease in agitation, increased sleep times, ate more food, and they had higher Clinical Global Impression scores—a measure of overall functioning given by the patients’ doctors before and after beginning the trial drug.
Then, in 2015, the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics published a review 3 regarding cannabinoids as a potential treatment for late onset alzheimer’s disease. Remember those amyloid plaques and twisted proteins we mentioned that could be causing the diseases progression? They concluded cannabinoids can reduce their formation, as well as reduce oxidative stress, neuro inflammation, and the typical behavior related symptoms seen in dementia patients.
Moving onto 2017m when a study 4 found CBD to reduce brain inflammation and promotes new brain cell formation. It even reduces and prevents cognitive deficits from developing in rodent Alzheimer’s disease models. A combination of THC and CBD seemed to dampen the psychoactive effects of THC and increase the therapeutic effects beyond that seen from either phytocannabinoid alone. Their “data suggests that this major component of cannabis sativa, which lacks psychoactivity may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of AD.”
Even though there have been several studies like these, suggesting cannabinoids like CBD and THC, may work as potentially treating Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and other neurodegenerative diseases, a recent 2019 5 review of the current research available suggests otherwise. Published by the Canandian government, they claim to have found limited evidence that medical cannabis may be effective for treating agitation, disinhibition, irritability, aberrant motor behavior, nocturnal behavior disorders, aberrant vocalization and resting care—all symptoms associated with dementia, and often, Alzheimer’s. They point out the current studies that have been published have had very few participants, used various cannabinoids of uncertain quality and in varying forms. The authors of the review highlight the need for more robust, long-term studies. Once cannabis is legalized federally, restrictions on research will be loosened, and we’re excited to see what results scientists will find as we continue to explore the medicinal properties of this plant.
1. https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures-2019-r.pdf2. 2014 TheAmerican Journal ofGeriatricPsychiatry Volume 22, Issue 4, April 2014, Pages 415-419 Brief Report Dronabinol for the Treatment of Agitation and Aggressive Behavior in Acutely Hospitalized Severely Demented Patients with Noncognitive Behavioral Symptoms 3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25788394 4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5289988/ 5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK546328/
