Marijuana Found to Help Prevent and Stop the Progression of Alzheimer's
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Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia among the elderly, and with the ever-increasing size of this population, cases of Alzheimer's disease are expected to triple over the next 50 years. Consequently, the development of treatments that slow or halt the disease progression have become imperative to both improve the quality of life for patients and reduce the health care costs attributable to Alzheimer's disease. Here, we demonstrate that the active component of marijuana, 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), competitively inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) as well as prevents AChE-induced amyloid -peptide (A) aggregation, the key pathological marker of Alzheimer's disease. Computational modeling of the THC-AChE interaction revealed that THC binds in the peripheral anionic site of AChE, the critical region involved in amyloidgenesis. Compared to currently approved drugs prescribed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, THC is a considerably superior inhibitor of A aggregation, and this study provides a previously unrecognized molecular mechanism through which cannabinoid molecules may directly impact the progression of this debilitating disease.
It was also found that "delta-9-THC was more than twice as effective as donazepil at inhibiting acetylcholinesterase activity. Donazepil is one of the medications used currently to slow the progression of Alzheimers." Source.
This is a very serious issue for me, as my grandmother is in the later stages of Alzheimer's and my mother is at a serious risk for getting it later in life. If something like medical marijuana can help fight Alzheimer's, then I am all for it, especially if it is more effective than one of the major medications already used to fight Alzheimer's.
Yes I know marijuana causes memory loss. The thing about memory loss caused by marijuana is that it's not permanent, nor is it fatal.
