TY - JOUR
T1 - Phytocannabinoids and endocannabinoids
T2 - different in nature
AU - Maccarrone, Mauro
N1 - Funding Information:
Open access funding provided by Università degli Studi dell’Aquila within the CRUI-CARE Agreement. Not applicable. Acknowledgements
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - Cannabis is one of the earliest cultivated plants, of which Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica are the most widespread and best characterized species. Their extracts contain (phyto)cannabinoids (pCBs) of therapeutic interest, such as Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, along with many other compounds, so that there is no “one cannabis” but several mixtures even from the same plant. This complexity is mirrored, or even exceeded, by the complexity of the molecular targets that pCBs find in our body, most of which belong to the so-called “endocannabinoid (eCB) system”. Here, we describe the major pCBs and the main components of the eCB system to appreciate their differences and mutual interactions, as well as the potential of using pCB/eCB-based drugs as novel therapeutics to treat human diseases, both in the central nervous system and at the periphery. Moreover, we address the question of the evolution of pCBs and eCBs, showing that the latter compounds were the first to appear in nature, and that the former substances took a few million years to mimic the three-dimensional structures of the latter, and hence their biological activity in our body. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
AB - Cannabis is one of the earliest cultivated plants, of which Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica are the most widespread and best characterized species. Their extracts contain (phyto)cannabinoids (pCBs) of therapeutic interest, such as Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, along with many other compounds, so that there is no “one cannabis” but several mixtures even from the same plant. This complexity is mirrored, or even exceeded, by the complexity of the molecular targets that pCBs find in our body, most of which belong to the so-called “endocannabinoid (eCB) system”. Here, we describe the major pCBs and the main components of the eCB system to appreciate their differences and mutual interactions, as well as the potential of using pCB/eCB-based drugs as novel therapeutics to treat human diseases, both in the central nervous system and at the periphery. Moreover, we address the question of the evolution of pCBs and eCBs, showing that the latter compounds were the first to appear in nature, and that the former substances took a few million years to mimic the three-dimensional structures of the latter, and hence their biological activity in our body. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
KW - Bioactive lipid
KW - Cannabinoid receptor
KW - Metabolic enzyme
KW - Pharmacophore
KW - Signal transduction
KW - Vanilloid receptor
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85094645181&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85094645181&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12210-020-00957-z
DO - 10.1007/s12210-020-00957-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85094645181
VL - 31
SP - 931
EP - 938
JO - ATTI Della Accademia Nazionale Dei Lincei Rendiconti Lincei Scienze Fisiche E Naturali
JF - ATTI Della Accademia Nazionale Dei Lincei Rendiconti Lincei Scienze Fisiche E Naturali
SN - 2037-4631
IS - 4
ER -