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These authors studied the role of cannabinoid mechanisms in ethanol neurotoxicity in immature rat and mouse brains.
The researchers administered various doses of ethanol with and without Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or the synthetic cannabinoid WIN-55,212-2 to rats that were 1 to 14 days old. To measure neurotoxicity, the researchers estimated the number of degenerating neurons in the rats’ brains 24 hours after drug administration.
The cannabinoids were not by themselves neurotoxic. However, at doses between 1 and 10 mg/kg, they caused a dose-dependent increase in the neural damage elicited by ethanol, with a peak effect in 7-day-old rat pups. Conversely, the cannabinoid CB-1 receptor antagonist rimonabant blocked both the neurotoxicity of …