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Lowering of blood pressure achieved through use of hashish-like drug

News Target.com

Wednesday 23 Aug 2006

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A new method for lowering blood pressure (hypertension) through use of a
compound that synthesizes a cannabis (hashish) plant component has been
developed by a pharmacology Ph.D. student at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem School of Pharmacy.

For his work on the cardiovascular activity of cannabinoids (chemical
compounds derived from cannabis), Yehoshua Maor was one of the winners
of this year's Kaye Innovation Awards, presented on June 13 during the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem's 69th meeting of the Board of Governors.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for about one-third of all deaths
in industrialized countries, and is the leading reason for visits there
to physicians as well as for drug prescriptions. However, not all
patients respond well to the drugs available. There is no "ideal'
hypotensive (blood pressure lowering) drug.

The cannabis plant – also known as hashish or marijuana – through its
chemical compounds -- cannabinoids -- has been shown to have a
beneficial, hypotensive effect. However, a drawback in the therapeutic
use of cannabinoids has been its undesirable psychotropic properties –
production of hallucinatory effects. Attempts to separate the
hypotensive action from the psychotropic properties of cannabinoids have
achieved only partial success until now.

Working under the supervision of Prof. Raphael Mechoulam at the Hebrew
University School of Pharmacy, Maor, who was born in Brazil and
immigrated to Israel in 1998, has created a synthetic version of a minor
cannabis constituent named cannabigerol, which is devoid of psychotropic
activity.

In laboratory experiments with rats in collaboration with Prof. Michal
Horowitz of the Department of Environmental Physiology, it was found
that this novel compound reduced blood pressure when administered to the
rats in relatively low doses. Additional testing also showed that the
compound also brought about another beneficial effect -- relaxation of
the blood vessels. A further beneficial property observed in work
carried out with Prof. Ruth Gallily of the Lautenberg Center for General
and Tumor Immunology, was that the compounds produced an
anti-inflammatory response.

Maor believes that these qualities have the potential for development of
a valuable new clinical drug with a major market potential, especially
for patients suffering from inflammation of the blood vessels as the
result of hypertension, and others with metabolic irregularities.

Maor already has won international recognition for his work with
cannabanoids, resulting from his collaborative work with Garry Milman,
another Ph.D. student in the laboratory of Prof. Mechoulam, for the
discovery of an endogenous compound found in the brain which causes
vaso-relaxation.

Maor begin a post-doctoral fellowship in the fall at the Harvard
University Medical School, where he plans to continue his research.
http://www.NewsTarget.com/020097.html

 

 

 

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