Marijuana's undesirable effects on the brain can be overcome by using painkillers similar to ibuprofen, at least in mice.
Chu Chen and his colleagues at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans treated mice with THC, marijuana's main active ingredient. They found that THC impaired the animals' memory and the efficiency of their neuronal signalling, probably by stimulating the enzyme COX-2.
The authors reversed these negative effects — and were able to maintain marijuana's benefits, such as reducing neurodegeneration — when they also treated the mice with a drug, similar to ibuprofen, that inhibits COX-2.
The authors suggest that the benefits of medical marijuana could be enhanced with the use of such inhibitors.
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Painkiller kills the bad effects of pot. Nature 503, 440 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/503440b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/503440b
