By
Barry Bard
A recent study
by German researchers at the University of Bonn and Hebrew University
concluded that “a chronic low dose of THC restores cognitive function in
old mice” and could prevent human brains from “slowing down” later in
life.
The researchers gave mice of varying
ages daily doses of THC for one month straight.
While two-month-old mice lost cognitive skills, the 12-18-month-old mice demonstrated a “considerable performance boost, even putting them on par with younger mice who’d abstained.”
To arrive at this conclusion, the researchers tested the subject’s recognition of “familiar objects” and had the mice go through “a water maze in known and new configurations.” The group of elderly mice displayed no negative side effects from the THC while the younger mice lost cognitive skills.
All told, the older mice that consumed THC demonstrated noticeable improvements in test performance. The conclusion: a dose of THC a day boosts the endocannabinoid system and, if comparable in humans, could result in a better qualify of life for the elderly.
Given the promising findings, researchers plan to conduct a similar experiment on older “human brains” via a clinic trial sometime this year. Cannabis could very well help keep older brains sharper for a longer period of time, and one of the study’s co-authors, Andras Bilkei-Gorzo, said just that:
While two-month-old mice lost cognitive skills, the 12-18-month-old mice demonstrated a “considerable performance boost, even putting them on par with younger mice who’d abstained.”
To arrive at this conclusion, the researchers tested the subject’s recognition of “familiar objects” and had the mice go through “a water maze in known and new configurations.” The group of elderly mice displayed no negative side effects from the THC while the younger mice lost cognitive skills.
All told, the older mice that consumed THC demonstrated noticeable improvements in test performance. The conclusion: a dose of THC a day boosts the endocannabinoid system and, if comparable in humans, could result in a better qualify of life for the elderly.
Given the promising findings, researchers plan to conduct a similar experiment on older “human brains” via a clinic trial sometime this year. Cannabis could very well help keep older brains sharper for a longer period of time, and one of the study’s co-authors, Andras Bilkei-Gorzo, said just that:
“If we can rejuvenate the brain so that everybody gets five to 10 more years without needing extra care then that is more than we could have imagined.”Cannabis might just be a Sorcerer’s Stone for the elderly.
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