MARIJUANA-LIKE DRUG MAY HELP TREAT DEPRESSION

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A drug that boosts levels of the brain's own
"bliss" chemical can help reverse symptoms of depression in rats,
U.S. and Italian researchers reported Monday.

The drug helps maintain high levels of a compound called anandamide,
named after the Sanskrit word for "bliss," which is chemically
similar to the active ingredient in marijuana.

"These findings raise the hope that the mood-elevating properties of
marijuana can be harnessed to treat depression," said Daniele
Piomelli, director of the Center for Drug Discovery at the University
of California, Irvine, who led the study.

"Marijuana itself has shown no clinical use for depression. However,
specific drugs that amplify the actions of natural marijuana-like
transmitters in the brain are showing great promise," he added in a statement.

Piomelli's team used a drug patented this year, called URB597. It
interferes with another compound called fatty acid amide hydrolase or
FAAH, which in turn breaks down anandamide. Dialing back FAAH makes
more anandamide available in the brain, Piomelli said.

Writing in the journal Biological Psychiatry, Piomelli and colleagues
said they gave URB597 to chronically stressed rats, which act in a
way similar to depressed people. After five weeks of treatment,
treated rats acted more like unstressed rats, Piomelli's team said.

Piomelli said clinical studies on the drug will begin in 2008.