POT-LIKE SUBSTANCE MAY OFFER TIC,SHAKING RELIEF

Medicine: UCI researchers find that anandamide controls neural activity.

Washington-A marijuana-like chemical in the brain that helps regulate
body movement and coordination might be used to treat diseases that
produce tics and shaking, such as Parkinson's diseases and
schizophrenia, researchers said.

University of California, Irvine, researchers found that the chemical,
known as anandamide, acts as a kind of brake on neutral activity in
the brains of rats, and might be used to treat the side effects of
diseases that cause uncontrollable movements.

Writing in the April issue of Nature Neuroscience, they said
anandamide interferes with the effects of nerve cells that transmit
dopamine, the message-carrying chemical responsible for stimulating
movement and other motor behavior in the brain.

Uncontrolled production of dopamine has been blamed for some of the
symptoms of schizophrenia and the nervous tics and outbursts
associated with Tourette's syndrome. A lack of dopamine is blamed for
the shaking and motor hesitation that marks Parkinson's disease.

"This shows for the first time how anandamides work in the brain to
produce normal motor activity," said Daniele Piomelli, an associate
professor of pharmacology at UCI who helped lead the study.

"Patients with schizophrenia and other diseases have reported that
marijuana appears to relieve some of their symptoms, but scientist
have never found a physiological reason why. By understanding how the
anandamide system works similarly to marijuana, we can explore new
ways to treat these diseases more effectively."

But Piomelli said cannabis itself did not offer any kind of cure.
"Marijuana doesn't provide the regulatory effects on dopamine in the
brain that we're looking for," he said.

Anandamide is used by a network of nerve cells in an area of the brain
that coordinates motor behavior.