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]