Daily Dose of Cannabis Extract Might Improve Memory In Old Age Study Suggests

Researchers from the University of Bonn, Germany, along with help from researchers at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, conducted a study to look at the effects of THC on mice. The results from their study suggest that a daily dose of cannabis extract might play a big part in possibly helping to slow or reverse cognitive decline in old age.

The study has been published in the journal Nature Medicine.

For their study, they used mice of different ages: 2 months old, 1 year old, and 18 months old. They gave those mice a daily dose of THC for a period of four weeks.

After they received their dose, the mice were tested on things like their orientation skills and recognition; how quickly they were able to solve a water maze, as well as their ability to quickly recognize objects they should be familiar with.

The young mice, without the drug, were able to do really well for these tests.

But the same cannot be said for the older mice, without the drug they didn't perform so well. The researchers say that they saw a dramatic effect with both groups after they had administered the THC.

For the younger mice, they performed worse while on THC, but the older mice improved.

The scores of the older mice improved so much that they actually were on par with the younger mice who performed the tasks THC-free. They also say that they saw the benefits last for several weeks past the initial administration of the THC.

The researchers also say that they gave a small amount of THC so that there was no intoxicating effect to the mice. When they examined the brain tissue, they found that the molecular signature had changed for the older mice and it had shown similarities to that of the younger ones.

The researchers involved with the study say that the results suggest that there can be profound and long-lasting improvement in the way of cognitive performance, when it comes to taking low doses of THC later in life.

They credit the THC as being responsible for restoring gene expression in the older mice to more youthful levels.

The team who conducted the study are still looking to investigate further and they are interested in seeing if THC can provide the same results when it comes to humans. They suggest that perhaps one day THC might even be used to treat health issues like dementia.

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Sources:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170508112400.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/may/08/daily-dose-of-cannabis-extract-could-reverse-brains-decline-in-old-age-study-suggests-thc
http://metro.co.uk/2017/05/09/weed-could-stop-the-memory-loss-caused-by-old-age-study-finds-6625204/