Work

Chronic inflammatory pain and chronic THC vapor inhalation alter midbrain neuronal activity

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Many in the United States with pain self-medicate with delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabis, and many humans use e-cigarette-type devices filled with cannabis extracts to self-administer THC. Until recently, most rodent studies have used injection procedures and male rats. Chronic THC vapor reduced synaptic inhibition and neural firing in ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG) neurons in males and rescued chronic inflammatory pain-induced increase in synaptic inhibition in females.

Source: Journal of Neurophysiology

DOI: 10.1152/jn.00456.2024

Authors: Leslie K. Kelley, Nicholas W. Gilpin, Jason W. Middleton

Institutions: Louisiana State University, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans, Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System

Language: English

Topic: Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research

Subfield: Pharmacology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs