The CB1 subtype of the cannabinoid receptor is present on neurons in the brain and mediates the perceptual effects of Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol and other cannabinoids. We found that cat cerebral arterial smooth muscle cells (VSMC) contain the protein for the CB1 receptor and express a cDNA that has >98% amino acid homology to the CB1 cDNA expressed in rat and human neurons. Activation of the ...

De novo lipogenesis and hypercaloric diets are thought to contribute to increased fat mass, particularly in abdominal fat depots. CB1 is highly expressed in adipose tissue, and CB1-mediated signalling is associated with stimulation of lipogenesis and diet-induced obesity, though its contribution to increasing fat deposition in adipose tissue is controversial. Lipogenesis is regulated by transcr...

Cannabinoids act at the CB1 receptor to inhibit adenylate cyclase activity via a pertussis toxin-sensitive G-protein. Within the striatum, CB1 receptors have been shown to be localized on the same neurons as Gi-coupled dopamine D2 receptors. In this study we have examined the interactions of CB1 and D2 receptors on adenylate cyclase. In striatal neurons in primary culture, both the CB1 receptor...

Early in postnatal life, mossy fibres (MF), the axons of granule cells in the dentate gyrus, release GABA which is depolarizing and excitatory. Synaptic currents undergo spike-time dependent long-term depression (STD-LTD) regardless of the temporal order of stimulation (pre versus post and viceversa). Here we show that at P3 but not at P21, STD-LTD, induced by negative pairing, is mediated by e...

A Cannabinoid Receptor 1 (CB1) binding site for the selective allosteric modulator ORG27569 is here identified through an integrate approach of consensus pocket prediction, mutagenesis studies and Mass Spectrometry. This unprecedented ORG27569 pocket presents the structural features of a Cholesterol Consensus Motif, a cholesterol interacting region already found in other GPCRs. ORG27569 and cho...

Activation of cannabinoid CB1 receptors reduces glutamatergic synaptic transmission in the rodent striatum and is involved in the normal control of motor function by the basal ganglia. Here we investigated CB1 receptor regulation of glutamate release and uptake and synaptic transmission in the rat striatum. We show that CB1 receptor activation reduces both the release and uptake of [3H]glutamat...

The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) exerts a coordinated modulation of the psychoneuroendocrine responses to stress. However, how acute stress impacts on BNST in vivo plasticity is a crucial question that still remains unanswered. Here, neurons from the anterior portion of the BNST (aBNST) were recorded in vivo during and after stimulation of their medial prefrontal cortical (mPFC) a...

Ashton, J. C., Y. Zheng, et al. (2004). "Immunohistochemical characterisation and localisation of cannabinoid CB1 receptor protein in the rat vestibular nucleus complex and the effects of unilateral vestibular deafferentation." Brain Res 1021(2): 264-71. CB1 receptor expression has been reported to be low in the brainstem compared with the forebrain, and low in the vestibular nucleus complex (V...

In developing brain neuronal migration, dendrite outgrowth and dendritic spine outgrowth are controlled by Cdc42, a small GTPase of the Rho family, and its activators. Cdc42 function in promoting actin polymerization is crucial for glutamatergic synapse regulation. Here, we focus on GABAergic synapse-specific activator of Cdc42, collybistin (CB) and examine functional differences between its sp...

BACKGROUND Endocannabinoids (EC) and the cannabinoid-1 (CB1) receptor are involved in the regulation of motility in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. However, the underlying physiological mechanisms are not completely resolved. The purpose of this work was to study the physiological influence of the endocannabinoid anandamide, the putative endogenous CB1 active cannabinoid, and of the CB1 recept...