As a principal tissue responsible for insulin-mediated glucose uptake, skeletal muscle is important for whole-body health. The role of peripheral endocannabinoids as regulators of skeletal muscle metabolism has recently gained a lot of interest, as endocannabinoid system disorders could cause peripheral insulin resistance. We investigated the role of the peripheral endocannabinoid system in ske...

The endocannabinoid system has been involved in the regulation of anxiety, and proposed as an inhibitory modulator of neuronal, behavioral and adrenocortical responses to stressful stimuli. Brain regions such as the amygdala, hippocampus and cortex, which are directly involved in the regulation of emotional behavior, contain high densities of cannabinoid CB1 receptors. Mutant mice lacking CB1 r...

Hepatic fibrosis is the response of the liver to chronic injury and is associated with portal hypertension, progression to hepatic cirrhosis, liver failure, and high incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma. On a molecular level, a large number of signaling pathways have been shown to contribute to the activation of fibrogenic cell types and the subsequent accumulation of extracellular matrix in t...

Since the discovery of the endocannabinoid system consisting of cannabinoid receptors, endogenous ligands, and biosynthetic and metabolizing enzymes, interest has been renewed in investigating the promise of cannabinoids as therapeutic agents. Abundant evidence indicates that cannabinoids modulate immune responses. An inflammatory response is triggered when innate immune cells receive a danger ...

AIMS This review posits that fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibition has therapeutic potential against neuropathological states including traumatic brain injury; Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's diseases; and stroke. MAIN METHODS This proposition is supported by data from numerous in vitro and in vivo experiments establishing metabolic and pharmacological contexts for the neuro...

Research into the endocannabinoid signaling system has grown exponentially in recent years following the discovery of cannabinoid receptors (CB) and their endogenous ligands, such as anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG). Important advances have been made in our understanding of the endocannabinoid signaling system in various aspects of alcoholism, including alcohol-seeking behavio...