CANNABIS 'COULD HELP EPILEPTICS'

Further evidence has emerged that an ingredient of cannabis could help
prevent epileptic seizures.

Some experts are now calling for fresh research into the potential of
cannabis-like compounds to help alleviate the condition.

Researchers from Germany found that natural brain chemicals which
resemble cannabis extracts can interrupt a process which can trigger a
seizure.

There have been trials of cannabis compounds in MS and cancer
patients.

There are reports dating from the 15th century talking about the use
of cannabis to ease the symptoms of epilepsy.

However, there have been few organised trials in humans in recent
years, even though cannabis or its extracts are being evaluated in
trials against several other illness types illness.

Brain Chemicals

The researchers, from the Max-Planck Institut in Munich studies mice
bred to suffer a key feature of epilepsy in humans.

This is "excitotoxicity" - abnormal stimulation of brain cells by an
excessive quantity of a chemical called glutamate.

In the mutant mice, a substance called kainic acid works in a very
similar way, and the researchers used this to find out if cannabinoid
chemicals could somehow interrupt the process or protect the brain
cells involved.

They found, in the mouse brain at least, that key receptors on the
surface of the brain cell, which normally respond to contact with
cannabinoid-like chemicals produced naturally in the body, appeared to
protect against these acid-induced seizures.

However, while the same receptors are found in the human brain, there
is no evidence that seizures could be stopped by applying similar
cannabinoids in a therapy.

'Promising'

The researchers describe their finding as a "promising therapeutic
target" for epilepsy drug research.

Professor Roger Pertwee, an researcher into cannabinoids at Aberdeen
University, told BBC News Online that fresh studies into their promise
against epilepsy were overdue.

He said: "There is always a need for new drugs to treat epilepsy, and
there have now been sufficient animal studies to justify research in
humans with epilepsy."