Dear Ferret Folks-

Sometimes there is a reason for reading through all that "scientific
mumbo jumbo" when trying to say something useful about cutting edge
biomolecular research. Here is what the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) are saying about new findings regarding the endocannabinoid
system in simple terms, and what it might mean in practical application
a little farther on down the road. This is taken from " Study Helps
Unravel Mysteries of Brain's Endocannabinoid System NIDA research
could lead to better treatment for pain and marijuana addiction "
http://www.nih.gov/news/health/mar2009/nida-16.htm

<<New research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),
part of the National Institutes of Health, has identified a new
mechanism for the processing of endocannabinoids, natural brain
compounds similar to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. The
results of this study, led by researchers from Stony Brook University,
were published March 16 in the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences. Endocannabinoids are known to play a role in numerous
physiological processes including appetite, memory, and pain.
Researchers had long suspected that endocannabinoids needed a specific
transporter that would ferry them to the location where they are broken
down. This study successfully identified a couple of previously known
fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) as capable of carrying the
endocannabinoid anandamide (also known as AEA) from the cell membrane,
through the cell interior, to the location where it is destroyed. "This
finding is important because it significantly expands the range of
potential targets for developing medications that could help fight
pain, addiction, and other disorders," said NIDA Director Dr. Nora D.
Volkow. "For example, the manipulation of the endocannabinoid system
has the potential to provide sorely needed therapeutics for the
management of severe pain that are devoid of the side effects of opiate
analgesics."... "From a theoretical viewpoint, this approach could be
used for treating marijuana addiction," said Dr. Volkow... This line
of research may also be important for other types of addiction,
such as chronic alcohol abuse, which also affects AEA levels," she
explained....In addition to pain control, researchers are also
examining manipulation of the endocannabinoid system for treating
anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, traumatic brain injury, and
other substance abuse disorders.>>

Simply put, we knew that our bodies had a system in place for
delivering and metabolizing cannabanoid compounds such as the THC found
in Cannabis or marajuana. We just weren't sure *exactly* how that
system worked, how the compounds were transferred from place to place
at the molecular level. We didn't have a road map showing all aspects
of the delivery system. Now we do. Now that we have a map, maybe we can
re-direct the delivery of these compounds in some ways that *we* want.
Like, say, to alleviate pain, without having to use heavy narcotics.
To alleviate anxiety in some of its most troubling aspects, such as
obsessive compulsive disorders like pulling all of your hair out or
being so afraid of the outside world that you never leave your
apartment. It would be really nice to do that without making people
feel stoned out of their minds as a side effect, and it may be possible
a few years down the road. It may even be possible to put a solid
*end* to people's unhealthy psychological and physical dependence upon
marijuana and other substances of abuse that cost our society billions
of dollars and lay waste to human happiness, security, and potential.

This has *nothing* to do with why fat-assed mammals such as myself
swoon when presented with greasy french fries. There are many different
"pleasure or satisfaction as a reward" systems in the human brain, not
just the ones involved in the transport of endocannabinols made inside
our own bodies, or plant cannibinols ingested in lush, fudgy pot
brownies. There are lots and lots of "pleasure or satisfaction as a
reward" systems for food. Lots and lots of them for sex. Some are as
abstract as "I smile, you smile, we both relax." How we go from french
fries to some stoner zoned out on the couch on the sofa in front of the
SciFi Channel with his hand in up to the wrist in the mouth of a jar of
Vlassic pickles, munching on one dill spear after the next to We Have
Compromised the Metabolic Integrity of the Ferret by Forcibly Addicting
Them to Complex Carbohydrates via Kibble and the Endocannabinoid
Pathway!!!!!! (But don't bother with that scientific mumbo jumbo,
it'll just confuse you) is just the most *wonderful* train wreck of
progressive logic. I am in Awe.

Alexandra in MA,
Rummaging in the freezer for that bag of frozen curly fries

[Posted in FML 7343]