A single dose of cannabidiol, a component of marijuana, eases seizures and improves learning and sociability in mice with mutations in an autism gene called CDKL5.
The results add to growing evidence that cannabidiol, or CBD,ย can treat epilepsyย andย autism. Researchers presented the work [October 21] at theย 2019 Society for Neuroscience annual meetingย in Chicago, Illinois.
โThis is a starting point,โ says Rachel White, a research associate scientist inย Frances Jensenโs labย at the University of Pennsylvania who presented the work. โCBD had positive effects in the animals,โ and no negative ones, she says.
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CBD is the major non-psychoactive compound in marijuana. Last year, the United States Food and Drug Administrationย approved CBD to treat seizuresย in two conditions related to autism: Lennox-Gastaut syndrome andย Dravet syndrome.
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The researchers plan to study the effects of long-term treatment with CBD.
โThese animals grew up without any treatments, and just one treatment at a late age was able to deliver these changes,โ White says. Treating the mice earlier in life may give even better results, she says. โIt would also tell us if thereโs any detrimental effect of growing up with CBD.โ
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