January 13, 2014

New Study: Marijuana May Protect Liver From Alcohol Related Damage

January 13, 2014
marijuana alcohol accidents driving

marijuana alcohol liverCourtesy of The Joint Blog

A new study published in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine has found that cannabidiol, a compound found in cannabis, can prevent damage to the liver caused by alcohol consumption.

According to the study’s abstract; “Acute alcohol drinking induces steatosis, and effective prevention of steatosis can protect liver from progressive damage caused by alcohol. Increased oxidative stress has been reported as one mechanism underlying alcohol-induced steatosis.”

It continues; “We evaluated whether cannabidiol, which has been reported to function as an antioxidant, can protect the liver from alcohol-generated oxidative stress-induced steatosis. Cannabidiol can prevent acute alcohol-induced liver steatosis in mice, possibly by preventing the increase in oxidative stress and the activation of the JNK MAPK pathway. Cannabidiol per se can increase autophagy both in CYP2E1-expressing HepG2 cells and in mouse liver. Importantly, cannabidiol can prevent the decrease in autophagy induced by alcohol.”

Researchers conclude that these results “show that cannabidiol protects mouse liver from acute alcohol-induced steatosis through multiple mechanisms including attenuation of alcohol-mediated oxidative stress, prevention of JNK MAPK activation, and increasing autophagy.”

The study was conducted by researchers at the School of Public Health at Sun Yat-sen University in China, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and the State Key Laboratory of Oncology at the Sun Yatsen University Cancer Center in China.

Source: TheJointBlog.Com

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