Cannabidiol Affects MK-801-Induced Changes in the PPI Learned Response of Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus spp.).

Patricia G Saletti,Hisao Nishijo,Marilia Barros,Rafael S Maior,Carlos Tomaz

doi:10.3389/fphar.2017.00093

Abstract

There are several lines of evidence indicating a possible therapeutic action of cannabidiol (CBD) in schizophrenia treatment. Studies with rodents have demonstrated that CBD reverses MK-801 effects in prepulse inhibition (PPI) disruption, which may indicate that CBD acts by improving sensorimotor gating deficits. In the present study, we investigated the effects of CBD on a PPI learned response of capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.). A total of seven monkeys were employed in this study. In Experiment 1, we evaluated the CBD (doses of 15, 30, 60 mg/kg, i.p.) effects on PPI. In Experiment 2, the effects of sub-chronic MK-801 (0.02 mg/kg, i.m.) on PPI were challenged by a CBD pre-treatment. No changes in PPI response were observed after CBD-alone administration. However, MK-801 increased the PPI response of our animals. CBD pre-treatment blocked the PPI increase induced by MK-801. Our findings suggest that CBD’s reversal of the MK-801 effects on PPI is unlikely to stem from a direct involvement on sensorimotor mechanisms, but may possibly reflect its anxiolytic properties.

Highlights

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the several compounds extracted from the Cannabis plant reported to have different therapeutic applications (Baker et al, 2003)
Zuardi et al (2012) suggested, that an interaction between CBD and anandamide is essential for the psychoactive effect, considering that CBD increases the availability of this endocannabinoid via a reuptake inhibition mechanism (Mechoulam et al, 2002)
A similar profile was seen for the percentage of prepulse inhibition (PPI) when analyzing the data according to the treatment received (F3,12 = 0.368, p = 0.778; Figure 1B) and over the course of the weeks of the experiment, regardless of the specific treatment received (F3,12 = 1.283, p = 0.325; Figure 2)

Summary

Introduction

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the several compounds extracted from the Cannabis plant reported to have different therapeutic applications (Baker et al, 2003). These seem to include general systemic anti-inflammatory (Mechoulam et al, 2002; Vilela et al, 2015) and antioxidant properties (Hampson et al, 1998), as well as more specific effects in different neurological disorders, such as epilepsy (Mechoulam et al, 2002), anxiety (Zuardi et al, 1982; Campos and Guimarães, 2008), and schizophrenia (Zuardi et al, 1991; Leweke et al, 2012). Anandamide (Di Marzo et al, 2001) and CBD (Cristino et al, 2006) are both known TRPV1 receptor ligands, and the pre-synaptic activation of this

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Discussion

Conclusion