Marijuana Compound Removes Alzheimer’s-Related Protein From Nerve Cells

With the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease expected to almost triple in the United States by 2050, there is an urgent need to identify effective treatments for the condition. Now, a new study suggests marijuana may hold the key to such a treatment.

Published in the journal Aging and Mechanisms of Disease, the study reveals how a compound present in marijuana triggered the removal of beta-amyloid protein from nerve cells, or neurons.

Beta-amyloid is considered a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease; the protein clumps together in the brain of people with the condition, forming plaques.
Studies have suggested these beta-amyloid plaques disrupt communication between neurons in the brain, which leads to symptoms associated with Alzheimer's, such as impaired memory.

Preventing beta-amyloid accumulation in the brain might seem like an obvious way to tackle Alzheimer's, but because researchers are still unclear of the exact role the protein plays in the disease process, achieving such a feat is easier said than done.
Marijuana compound prevented nerve cell deathTo test their theory, the researchers applied THC to nerve cells with high beta-amyloid production.

They found that the marijuana compound reduced beta-amyloid levels and eradicated the inflammatory response to the protein, which prevented nerve cell death.

While clinical trials are needed to confirm the role THC might play in protecting nerve cells against beta-amyloid, the researchers believe their findings shed more light on the role beta-amyloid plays in Alzheimer's disease, which could pave the way for new treatments.

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