Possible Interaction: Cannabinoids and Dopamine

“Owing to the complexity of the cannabinoid– dopamine interactions that take place, there is conflicting evidence from human and animal studies concerning the effects of THC on the dopamine system.”

“Numerous animal studies show that administering exogenous cannabinoids alters the balance of excitation and inhibition reaching dopamine cells , most frequently causing an increase in firing with attendant elevations of dopamine release at downstream forebrain territories.”

“For example, there is general agreement that cannabinoids suppress dopamine release and presynaptically reduce transmitter release from cones and bipolar cells.”

“We can assume that endogenous cannabinoids serve to modulate dopamine neurotransmission and that these effects may differ depending upon the state of activation of the dopamine circuits.”

“Recent animal data demonstrate complex interactions between dopamine and cannabinoid type 1 signaling , a potential mechanism for haloperidol success in patients with CHS.”

“Although the exact mechanism for CHS remains unclear, animal data demonstrate complex interactions between dopamine and cannabinoid type 1 signaling , a potential mechanism for haloperidol success in patients with CHS, and the reason why we started using it [6].”

“ Dopamine and endogenous opioids are among the neurotransmitters that result more affected by perinatal cannabinoid exposure, which, when animals mature, produce changes in motor activity, drug-seeking behavior, nociception and other processes.”

“Endogenous cannabinoids appear to modulate transmitter systems (e.g. dopamine ) within the basal ganglia.”

“ Cannabinoids also increase dopamine release within the mesolimbic system, a neural pathway generally implicated in timing behavior.”

“In the present study, we hypothesized that cannabinoids would accelerate timing behavior in an FI task while concurrently augmenting a temporally relevant pattern of dopamine release.”

“To date, it remains unknown how cannabinoids modulate dopamine release when responding under FI conditions, and for that matter, how subsecond dopamine release is related to time in these tasks.”

“These measures add opioids to the growing list of abused drugs (including ethanol, nicotine, cocaine and cannabinoids ) that elicit rapid surges in NAc dopamine concentrations.”