Pot-Like Substance May Offer Tic,Shaking Relief



Pubdate: 25 March 1999 



Source: Orange County Register (CA) 



ubject: POT-LIKE SUBSTANCE MAY OFFER TIC,SHAKING RELIEF 	



Medicine: UCI researchers find that anandamide controls neural activity. 	



Washington-A marijuana-like chemical in the brain that helps regulate body movement and 

coordination might be used to treat diseases that produce tics and shaking, such as Parkinson's 

diseases and schizophrenia, researchers said.	



University of California, Irvine, researchers found that the chemical, known as anandamide, acts 

as a kind of brake on neutral activity in the brains of rats, and might be used to treat the side 

effects of diseases that cause uncontrollable movements. 	



Writing in the April issue of Nature Neuroscience, they said anandamide interferes with the effects 

of nerve cells that transmit dopamine, the message-carrying chemical responsible for stimulating 

movement and other motor behavior in the brain. 	



Uncontrolled production of dopamine has been blamed for some of the symptoms of schizophrenia 

and the nervous tics and outbursts associated with Tourette's syndrome. A lack of dopamine is 

blamed for the shaking and motor hesitation that marks Parkinson's disease. 	



"This shows for the first time how anandamides work in the brain to produce normal motor 

activity," said Daniele Piomelli, an associate professor of pharmacology at UCI who helped lead 

the study. 	



"Patients with schizophrenia and other diseases have reported that marijuana appears to relieve 

some of their symptoms, but scientist have never found a physiological reason why. By 

understanding how the anandamide system works similarly to marijuana, we can explore new 

ways to treat these diseases more effectively." 	



But Piomelli said cannabis itself did not offer any kind of cure. "Marijuana doesn't provide the 

regulatory effects on dopamine in the brain that we're looking for," he said.	



Anandamide is used by a network of nerve cells in an area of the brain that coordinates motor 

behavior.