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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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US CA: Cannabis Can Halt 'Fertility Signals'
ccguide Tuesday 12 Dec 2000 Pubdate: Mon, 11 Dec 2000 Source: Daily Telegraph (UK) Copyright: 2000 Telegraph Group Limited Contact: Website: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ Author: David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) CANNABIS CAN HALT 'FERTILITY SIGNALS' Cannabis smokers may be lowering their chances of having children, according to research. Scientists have discovered that chemicals in the drug can overload an important signalling system in the brain which is involved in fertility. When consumed by men or women, marijuana can make sperm sluggish, reduce the chances of it breaking through the surface of an egg and hinder the development of a newly-fertilised embryo. Dr Herbert Schuel, from the University at Buffalo, New York State, who presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology, said: "These findings suggest that defects in the cannabinoid receptor-signalling system could account for certain types of infertility. "A better understanding of these mechanisms might lead to the development of novel drugs useful in reproductive medicine. For heavy marijuana users, the study results raise the possibility that they are jeopardizing fertility by overloading this signalling system." In the 1980s, scientists found a chemical signalling system in the brain that responded to THC, the active substance in marijuana. A couple of years ago they identified the natural brain molecule anandamide that activates these cannabinoid receptors. Dr Schuel's team has now found the first evidence that anandamide exists in three substances involved in fertility: human seminal plasma, mid-cycle oviductal fluid and follicular fluid. Human sperm is not immediately capable of fertilising sperm after ejaculation. Only when they have been exposed to secretions inside a woman are they able to fertilise eggs, a process called "capacitation". - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager
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